


The Strangest Alternate Universe

by DeckofDragons



Series: Strangest Universe [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, M/M, Sanscest - Freeform, Slow Burn, Takes place mostly in the Underswap Universe, Underfell Papyrus, Underfell Sans, Underswap Papyrus, Underswap Sans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-06-10 15:33:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 66
Words: 131,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6962704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Underfell Sans accidentally ends up in the what he thinks is the strangest alternate universe imaginable: Underswap. Unable (or perhaps unwilling) to find a way back to his own universe he's forced to stay with the bizarre alternate versions of himself and his brother. But in the end he might actually end up kind of liking this strange happy version of himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sick of Everything

Another boring day sitting in the cold at the boring sentry station watching for humans who would never come. It was a fruitless task sitting out here at the edge of the woods near the Ruins, which was where a human would come from if one ever came at all. But it had been years and years since the last human fell and Sans didn’t think for one minute that another would be coming anytime soon.

So Sans was stuck out here for no real reason other than his stuck up demanding brother wanted him to be. Ever since Papyrus became commander of the Royal Guard he’d become even more stuck up and demanding than ever. Even making Sans call him ‘Boss’ when they on duty since he’d dragged Sans in as his underling.

And Sans _hated_ it. In fact, Sans hated everything about his miserable fucking life and his miserable fucking brother. No matter what he did Papyrus always found fault with him and made sure to let him know, constantly pointing out how weak and/or lazy he was. He hated his job as a sentry and hated every monster in Snowdin and in all of the Underground. He hated everyone and everything and sometimes wished he could just leave it all behind, but he was stuck here along with everyone else.

Stuck here at this boring sentry station desperately trying to keep from falling asleep. If he fell asleep again today he’d never hear the end of it from Papyrus. Standing up and walking around never helped because he could, and sometimes did, sleep standing up. So he was stuck trying to keep his eye sockets from closing and watch the empty path in front of him. But as always he was fighting a losing battle and was soon fast asleep.

 

He was woken up some time later when Papyrus gave him a hard knock to the skull. “Wake up, you lazy idiot. How many times have I told not to sleep on the job? And how many fucking times have I found you sleeping at your post?”

“Sorry Boss.” Sans had tried to explain to him on numerous occasions that he couldn’t help it sometimes but had only been accused of making up excuses for being weak and lazy.

“Sorry isn’t going to fucking fix it,” Papyrus almost growled. “What if a human comes by and you’re here sleeping at your post? Face it Sans you’re weak and I can’t believe that I, the Great and Magnificent Papyrus, am actually related to someone as weak and pathetic as you.”

“Well I can’t believe I’m related to such a pompous asshole,” Sans muttered quietly under his breath not intending for Papyrus to hear him.

“What did you just call me?”

“I just called you a ‘pompous asshole’ because that’s what you are.” Sans was already in trouble so might as well go all the way. “Your fucking ego is so big if I wanted to kill myself I’d jump off it and land on your IQ. And _tibia_ honest…”

“How _dare_ you talk to the Commander of the Royal Guard like that.” Papyrus interrupted him with another painful smack.

“Yeah well, why don’t you go fuck yourself?” Sans said knowing it wasn’t a good idea to make Papyrus any angrier than he already was but was too mad himself to care right now.

With a growl Papyrus wrapped his clawed and gloved hand around Sans’ neck bone lifting him up several feet off the ground. “Do you have a death wish? Because if you do I’d be glad to grant it,” he growled in Sans’ face.

“Whoa bro, Boss, wait a minute l-let’s not be too hasty here. Ya know k-killing me would only mean a ton more work for ya, a skele-ton, heh heh.”

Dangling helplessly in Papyrus’ grip Sans knew he could very easily be killed right now. Whether his brother would actually kill him or not he didn’t know, but he sure as hell didn’t want to find out.

“You’re lucky I’m feeling magnanimous today dear brother because if I weren’t you’d be dust right now if for no other reason than that stupid pun you just made. Now I’m going to return to my duties if when I come back out here I find you slacking off again I’ll be sure to punish you accordingly.” Papyrus then threw him roughly to the ground before striding off not even bothering to look back.

Sans waited until Papyrus was out of sight before lifting himself off the ground and brushing the snow off his black coat. “Fuck you too Papyrus,” he growled as he dug his claws into a nearby tree leaving large scratch marks in the bark deep enough to almost reach its center. “Fuck you and the stupid Royal Guard and all of Snowdin and the entire fucking Underground.”

Cursing and swearing Sans started randomly walking through the trees redirecting his rage at his brother onto them. Why did Papyrus have to be such a fucking asshole all the time? Why couldn’t Papyrus just leave him the fuck alone every once in a while? Why couldn’t Papyrus go just one single day without calling him weak or lazy?

Rage building Sans suddenly had to the urge to just not be here anymore. He needed a break from all this stupid bullshit. But there was no where he could got to escape any of it. The thought just made him angrier.

Blinded by rage and without a destination in mind other than ‘not here’ he teleported. As soon as he did though all his rage drained from him to be replaced with utter exhaustion. It felt like he’d teleported a _long_ ways but it didn’t look like much had changed. But he was too tired to care right now as he collapsed against a tree and passed out.


	2. Meeting the Swap Bros

When Sans came to sometime later he knew something was wrong. He wasn’t sure what though. He took a moment to remember that he’d teleported with no real destination in mind, it didn’t seem to have taken him very far despite the fact that he was exhausted by it. It was an exceedingly odd phenomenon and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

He’d gained the ability to teleport a while ago when the former Royal Scientist W.D. Gaster had fallen into the Core causing a sort of explosion as he was shredded across space and time. Sans had been his assistant at the time and Gaster had actually been trying to push him in to see what would happen.

Sans of course was having none of that and they’d ended up fighting which eventually led to them falling in together. The only thing that had saved Sans’ life was when he’d been able to grab onto the electrical wire of a machine that they’d knocked over in their struggles.

Gaster hadn’t been so lucky and had fallen all the way into the Core. In a way he was still alive even though no one other than Sans even remembered he’d ever existed. He’d just been scattered across space and time.

The explosion he caused had left Sans feeling dazed and confused as he hung onto the wire for dear life mere feet above sharing Gaster’s fate. Sans had later determined that being so close the explosion was why he remembered Gaster and how he’d gained the ability to bend the fabric of space and teleport.

In fact, it was his newfound ability to teleport that had saved his life that day. Trying to pull himself up using the wire would’ve sent the machine it was attached to tumbling down and him with it. So he’d hung there helpless, hoping someone would come along and pull him up. But he’d had no such luck and had hung there for a good few hours before his extreme desire to be at the top again had caused him to teleport there unintentionally, thus saving his life.

Later after he’d recovered from that harrowing ordeal, he’d done some tests and had mastered his ability to teleport. But he’d never been able to teleport without a clear destination in mind. In hindsight what he’d done earlier was extremely dangerous, especially since it had left him feeling exhausted for some reason.

But he’d have to look into just what exactly had happened later. Night was falling fast and Papyrus was going to be _pissed_ when Sans returned home. And as much as he dreaded facing his brother’s rage it was probably best to get it over and done with as soon as possible.

So despite the continued feeling of something being off Sans started for home. He could just teleport but still felt exhausted from his earlier one and Papyrus didn’t like it when he teleported into the house anyway. Besides walking meant a little more time before he had to face whatever Papyrus thought he deserved to be punished with.

As he walked, the sense of something being wrong worsened. It didn’t _feel_ like he was walking towards home despite knowing he was heading in the right direction. But he chose to ignore it, it was probably just a product of his stressed and exhausted mind.

 When he reached Snowdin he got the feeling that even though it looked the same it was different somehow. It was dark and no one was around so he at least didn’t have to deal with anyone’s hate filled glances. But it was odd that the streets were so barren, there were almost always people milling about for one reason or another. Maybe something had happened somewhere that needed everyone’s attention.

When he reached his house he got the feeling that it wasn’t _his_ house somehow, just a perfect replica of it. He tried the door, it was locked of course it was locked. But that meant he had to knock until Papyrus answered since he didn’t have his key on him. Ugh, why did everything have to be so fucking annoying all the time?

Preparing himself for the scolding and punishment he was about to receive for returning so late and having ‘slacked off’ again he knocked loudly on the door. It was only a couple minutes before it opened.

But it wasn’t Papyrus who answered it. No, it was a short skeleton monster who wore blue armor with a blue scarf and gloves to match. Sans was stunned at the remarkable resemblance they shared with each other. The other skeleton didn’t have sharp teeth or claws and lacked the golden tooth but other than that they looked almost exactly alike except for their clothing of course.

“Who the fuck are you?” Sans asked after they’d stared at each other in a shocked silence for a few seconds.

“Oh, I’m uh Sans and you really shouldn’t swear,” the other skeleton replied.

Was this some kind of sick joke somebody was playing on him? If so he’d find whoever they were and rip them to pieces.

“Sans who’s at the door?” a voice called from inside. A voice that sounded like… Papyrus(?) would if he wasn’t so angry all the time.

“I’m not really sure, uh who are you?” the skeleton who claimed he was Sans asked.

“I’m Sans and I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re doing stealing my name and my looks not to mention my house but you need to stop,” Sans almost growled as he flashed his eye red for emphasis.

“I think you must be mistaken, you see I’m Sans and this is the house I share with my brother. But you’re right you do look an awful lot like me for some reason. Ooh, maybe you’re like my long lost twin or something. Now wouldn’t that be exciting?” He said with a wide grin.

“I swear to god I’m gonna fucking kill ya if you don’t tell me what the fuck’s going on here,” Sans threatened.

What the fuck was even happening here? Where was Papyrus and why had he let this thing claiming to be him in the house?

“Whoa, calm down there buddy, no need to get violent,” the voice from earlier said as he walked up behind the other Sans.

Sans felt extremely shocked and confused to see Papyrus dressed casually in an orange hoodie looking and sounding so calm. Papyrus was never calm and would never tell him to calm down or not to get violent. Also, Papyrus should be absolutely furious at him for not listening to his earlier threat and for returning so late.

“Papyrus what the fuck is happening here? Why are you dressed like that and who the fuck is he?” Sans asked pointing to the other Sans dressed in blue.

“Oh you know him Paps? Is he a friend of yours?” Blue Sans asked.

“Hmm, I don’t know him. But he does seem to know me and he does look an awful lot like you and I heard him say his name was ‘Sans’. So I’m thinking something real strange might’ve happened,” Papyrus replied.

“Really what?” Both Sans-es said at the same time. Sans glared hatefully at Blue Sans but got only a smile and a thumbs up in return.

“Well maybe he is you from another universe.”

“Yeah no, there’s no way I’m him,” Sans said.

There was no way that smiling idiot could be an alternate version of himself. He looked like he was trying to cosplay as a blueberry, absolutely ridiculous.

But then again being in another universe would explain that odd out of place feeling he’d been having ever since he woke up. Not to mention it was the only possible explanation as to why Papyrus was being so calm. But that meant Blueberry Sans really was this universe’s version of him, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“That would explain why we have the same name and why we look alike,” Blueberry Sans said thoughtfully. “But why is he here then? And how did he get here?”

“I don’t know. How did you get here other Sans?” Papyrus asked turning back to him.

“I uh just sorta ended up here.” Sans was not about to tell them that he’d basically been throwing a temper tantrum that had ended with him being so angry that he’d teleported to nowhere and had somehow ended up here. “Well then if that is the case how the fuck am I supposed to get back to my universe?”

“I don’t know.” Papyrus shrugged nonchalantly.

What if he couldn’t teleport back? He’d gotten here by accident after all so getting back might be a huge undertaking. Teleporting between dimensions and universes had to be dangerous, he was lucky to have survived this trip. And there was no way it would be as easy as normal teleporting and it might be nigh on impossible to be find his own dimension again with all the hundreds of possible universes that existed. And to top it all off he was too exhausted and stressed to even try right now.

His Papyrus was going to be absolutely _furious_ if and when he returned. Not only had Sans disobeyed him and slacked off at his post again he had also ended up in another dimension. And there was the very real possibly he’d be stuck there for a long while.

“ _Fuck_ , this is the worst possible thing. Why the fuck did this have to happen to me?” Sans complained aloud already dreading his inevitable punishment.

“I’m sure it’ll be okay, we’ll find a way to get you back home,” Blueberry said.

“Oh god, what the fuck I’m going to do? I’m so dead.” Sans could already feel himself starting to freak out again as he started quickly pacing back and forth in front of his house that wasn’t his house. His brother was going to be so angry at him. Papyrus would no doubt think he was shirking his duties again and he hated when Sans did that.

He remembered there was one time shortly after Papyrus had become caption of the Royal Guard that he’d avoided his newfound duties for a whole day. When Papyrus had found him then he had hit Sans hard enough to crack his skull, an injury that had only just recently healed all the way. But with this who knew how long he was going to be gone, when he returned Papyrus might actually kill him for real this time.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Blueberry said as he put a hand on Sans’ shoulder causing him to freeze in his pacing. “I’m sure we’ll find a way to get you back home eventually. In the meantime, I guess you’ll have to stay at our house. You’ll have to sleep on the couch but I’m sure that’s not a big deal.”

What was with this universe? How could any version of him be so… optimistic and friendly? How could any version of Papyrus be so chill? Didn’t they have any pressing duties to attend to? Didn’t they care at all about being strong so no one would try to kill them? And this version of him and his brother seemed relaxed with each other so far, they hadn’t said one mean thing to each to other. How could that be a thing?

“What the fuck is wrong with you? How can you and… and your brother be so chill about this? You don’t even know me, or at least not really, and your inviting me to stay at your house, why? And we’ve just found out that it’s definitely possible to travel to other _dimensions_. That’s like a huge deal and you’re acting like you don’t care. And if I can do it somehow then other things could too, other things that might be dangerous. And I just… ugh…”

“Wow you’re really freaking out about this aren’t you?” Blueberry said.

“Of course I’m freaking out. Why the fuck wouldn’t I be? Don’t you see what kind of potential disasters could result from there being a way to transverse universes like this? Not to mention what if I can’t find a way back to my own universe? And regardless of anything else if I do get back…” Sans had been about to say that Papyrus might kill him but stopped himself just in time. He couldn’t have these alternate versions of himself and Papyrus aware of just how fucked up his relationship with his brother was.

“Okay look just calm down,” his Blueberry counterpart said. “Paps is real smart I’m sure tomorrow he could help you find a way back to your universe, right Paps?”

“Uh yeah, sure thing bro.” Papyrus was leaning against the door frame and had started smoking a joint. How could this possibly be the same person who was always so uptight and demanding?

“See other me, you don’t have anything to worry about. We’ll get you home in no time,” Blueberry said with an optimistic smile. How could this possibly be an alternate version of himself?

“Ugh, I hate this,” Sans groaned starting to feel his extreme exhaustion again. It was all too much to handle in one day. Not only had he accidentally teleported to another universe but it was also possibly the strangest alternate universe imaginable.

Suddenly needing a nap again and not having the energy to try to fight it this time he just closed his eyes and fell asleep despite the fact that he was standing up.


	3. Edge

As Sans woke up the next morning to the light streaming in through the window he was initially confused. Why hadn’t Papyrus woken him up at the crack of dawn like he normally did? And more to the point why had he slept on the couch? And why was it so much more comfortable than he remembered?

But then sitting up and looking into the kitchen he saw his Blueberry counterpart cooking something and it all came flooding back to him. He’d somehow ended up in what was possibly the weirdest alternate universe imaginable.

“Oh good morning other me,” Blueberry greeted him with a smile when he saw was he was up. “I was beginning to think I might have to wake both you and Paps up this morning.”

It was too early in the morning for this cheery bullshit. And the thought of anyone having to wake Papyrus up in the morning was so foreign Sans had to take a few seconds to realize who Blueberry was referring to.

“So last night was really weird, huh?” Blueberry said when he didn’t receive a reply to his greeting as Sans was pretty sure he’d expected for some reason. “I mean you showing up out of the blue like that. And then you fell asleep standing up, not even Paps can sleep standing up and he can sleep almost anywhere. And you stayed asleep too even when we moved you to the couch.”

Wow he must have been even more tired than he’d thought for him to be able to sleep through being moved like that. But whatever, for the first time in years he’d been able to sleep as long as he wanted and wake up on his own. Even though the light and the noise might have had something to do with it.

“Anyway other me, what’s it like in your universe?” Blueberry asked when he still didn’t get an answer.

“Don’t call me ‘other me’. I have a very hard time thinking of you as a version of myself and I don’t need you reminding me of it thank you very much.”

Sans’ harsh words didn’t seem to faze Blueberry much as he maintained the same happy expression that was the very antithesis to everything Sans thought of as himself.

“Well I have to call you something, I can’t call you by your name because that’s my name and that would be weird. So we have to think of a cool nickname to call you until we can find a way to get you back to your universe,” he said.

“Whatever, I don’t care. What’s for breakfast?” Sans said.

“Pancakes, but I have to wake up Paps real quick, be right back,” Blueberry replied before running upstairs and knocking loudly on the door that in Sans’ universe would’ve led to his room. It led to the smaller of the two rooms so of course it was his, Papyrus always wanted the biggest and best things and Sans lacked the desire to contest him on stuff like that.

It was a good solid five minutes before Papyrus finally came out. He still looked half asleep despite it being halfway through the morning. Sans didn’t think he’d ever seen his own Papyrus look even the slightest bit tired even when he made them both stay up to the ungodly hours of the morning.

“So Paps, how do you think alternate me got here?” Blueberry asked excitedly as they sat at the breakfast table together, something that never happened in Sans’ universe. Sans declined to join them not wanting to bother to get off the couch yet. He had even used his levitation magic to bring himself breakfast. He was going to take full advantage of the fact that his brother wasn’t there to yell at him for being lazy. And even though both of them had given him odd looks they didn’t say anything so he didn’t care.

“I dunno.” Papyrus shrugged.

“Well he had to have gotten here somehow. How did you get here other me? Did you fall into wormhole or something? Is there some special secret cave linking our worlds? Wouldn’t that be cool Paps, if there was a way to freely travel dimensions like that?” Blueberry said.

“ _Tibia_ honest Sans that’d be more scary than cool. I mean there are a ton of things that could go wrong if there was a place like that, a skele-ton.”

Did Papyrus really just make not one but two skeleton puns? What the actual fuck? Papyrus _hated_ jokes and puns of any sort and would scold and often hit Sans anytime he made one.

“Papyrus the day just started and your already making puns,” Blueberry said clearly annoyed by it. Another thing that made it hard for Sans to think of him as the same person as himself.

“So other me, how did you get here? And we still need to think of a cool nickname to call you,” Blueberry said as he turned his smile back to Sans.

“I teleported.”

“Really? You can teleport? Paps can too, but I don’t think he’s ever teleported to another dimension.”

So in this world it had been Papyrus who’d been close by when Gaster fell into the Core. Odd because Papyrus wasn’t into science and had never worked with Gaster. But everything else in this world was different so why not that too.

“Yeah but when I did it I didn’t have a destination in mind,” Sans said.

“That’s dangerous,” Papyrus commented.

Sans shrugged in response, “I’m not sure if I can teleport back though. But I guess I should try anyway.”

Thinking about his couch in his universe Sans teleported. But alas, he only ended up on the other side of the couch he was already sitting on. So getting back wasn’t going to be all that easy after all.

“So other me you should tell us what your universe is like?” Blueberry asked excitedly.

“It’s like this one except different.” Sans couldn’t even begin to list the differences he’d already noticed even though he’d only been here a short time. And he wasn’t the mood anyway.

“Well that doesn’t tell me anything. There has be stuff that’s different. Is it cool? Does everyone dress in black and red like you do? Are the houses and buildings and stuff the same? Ooh maybe when we find out how to get you back there we could come to for a visit and see what it’s like for ourselves.”

“Why are you so fucking excited and happy all the time? Especially this early in the goddam morning,” Sans asked not wanting to try to answer all his questions. Seriously though how did he have enough energy to ask all these fucking questions anyway? And didn’t it occur to him that maybe Sans’ universe might not be a good place to visit?

“Oh it’s just how I am. But why are you such a grouch all the time?”

“I’m not a grouch,” Sans growled knowing he was kind of being a grouch but not wanting to admit it.

“Oh seems to me that you’re a real _grouch_ potato,” Papyrus said.

Sans froze up unable to come up with an answer to that. He was used to his own Papyrus pointing out his laziness, always in the meanest and often painful way possible. But this Papyrus did it with a lighthearted joke. Was he being reprimanded for being lazy? That didn’t seem to be the case, so should he be offended? What the fuck was he supposed to do?

“See Paps he doesn’t like it when you make bad jokes either,” Blueberry scolded Papyrus. Ha ‘scolding Papyrus’ if Sans ever tried to do anything like that to his brother he’d at the very least get a painful knock on the head and some harsh words.

“I don’t think the fact that I made a pun was what bothered him,” Papyrus said giving him a measured look.

“I’m not bothered by anything,” Sans said crossing his arms in an attempt to hide his discomfort with the situation. “Don’t you guys have anything to do today?”

“Ah yes I have to go make sure all my puzzles are in place in case a human comes today,” Blueberry said. “You should come too other me.”

“You guys are waiting for humans too? How many more souls do you need to break the Barrier?” Sans asked.

“Only one, and when that one comes I’m going to capture them. And then I’ll finally be allowed to join the Royal Guard. And I’ll get to see a human for the first time too.”

“You mean you’re not already part of the Royal Guard?”

“Not yet, but I will be. And then everyone will want to be my friend for sure,” Blueberry said with a large grin.

‘Friend’? Sans barely even knew what that word meant. Why would Blueberry want to have friends? Friends couldn’t get you anywhere unless he meant to use them to get to a higher place of power. In which case he meant something more along the lines of allies.

“I’ll show you my super cool puzzles and where we wait for humans after breakfast,” Blueberry said excitedly.

 

As it turned out Blueberry’s puzzles were kind of similar to his Papyrus’ traps except for the fact that Blueberry’s puzzles weren’t even the slightest bit deadly.

“What’s the point of your puzzles if they’re only going to slightly delay anyone who comes through them? I mean are trying to capture a human by making them have to think for a few seconds?” Sans asked him after they’d settled down to apparently be on guard for humans.

“Well yeah, my puzzles will stump them long enough for me to capture them,” Blueberry said proudly.

Did he really think his puzzles were all that complicated? Sans had figured them out by just looking at them for a few seconds. Did Blueberry really think they’d good enough to stop a human for any significant length of time?

“Do you make puzzles too? Maybe you can help me make some new ones,” Blueberry said.

“Why would I ever want to make fucking puzzles? That’s entirely too much work.”

“Oh that’s too bad. But then how do you plan on capturing a human in your world?”

“I don’t care about capturing something that’s never going to come.”

“So in your universe no humans have ever fallen?” Blueberry asked.

“No, we have six souls just like you and need one more. But it’s been years and years since the last one and it’s obvious we’re never going to get another one.”

“Oh I don’t know what it’s like in your world but I do know a human has to fall down here eventually. And when they do I’ll capture them and then I’ll finally be allowed to join the Royal Guard.”

“Why do you even care about joining the Royal Guard?” Sans wondered who the Commander of the Royal Guard in this universe was, since it obviously wasn’t Papyrus. Probably Undyne if he had to guess, but then again with how weird this universe was she might be completely different too.

“Because if I join the Royal Guard I’ll be super popular and makes lots of friends. And I’ll get to protect the Queen,” Blueberry said proudly. “What about you, in your universe have you joined the Royal Guard yet?”

“Yeah, but only because Papyrus fucking made me,” Sans said with a growl remembering how pissed he brother was going to be if he ever made it back.

“Oh your Paps must be really different from my Paps then. My Paps doesn’t even care about joining the Royal Guard at all, he’s too lazy,” Blueberry said looking back at his Papyrus who was smoking another joint a few feet away as he took a nap of all things. “So what’s your Paps like? Is he as different from mine is as you are from me?”

“He’s an asshole.”

An asshole who was probably going to hurt Sans when he returned. He wondered if Papyrus would believe him about ending up in another universe by accident. But even if he did he’d still find some way to blame it on Sans’ incompetence like he always did. Technically, it actually was because of his incompetence this time, but that didn’t mean he deserved to be punished for it.

“You say that like you don’t like him?” Blueberry asked him with a confused expression on his face.

“Of course I don’t like him, he’s fucking asshole.” Sans started nervously pacing as he thought of all the things Papyrus might do to him as punishment for disobeying and for being gone so long.

Oh Papyrus was probably throwing fits about Sans’ disappearance already. The whole fucking Underground would soon know of it. They would be mad at him too for having to put up with Papyrus’ rage at his disappearance. When he returned he’d probably never hear the end of it from anyone, assuming of course that Papyrus didn’t kill him as he’d threatened to do on a few occasions.

“But why don’t you like him? He’s your bro, don’t you love each other?” Blueberry asked, his happy expression finally wilting a little.

“Ha, the only person my bro loves is himself. He’s a fucking piece of shit who only cares enough about me to want to make me as fucking miserable as possible.” Sans paused in his pacing long enough to kick a nearby tree hard enough to shake the snow off its branches.

“Oh I’m sorry. But it’s okay, I’m sure he cares about you but just has a hard time showing it.”

“Yeah right.” The very thought that Papyrus would ever care about him was laughable. Papyrus might very well kill him when he returned. If Blueberry knew that sad little fact, he wouldn’t be so ready to say bullshit like that.

“What has Edgy Mc My Chemical Romance so riled up?” This world’s strange and bizarre version of Papyrus asked as he approached.

“I was asking him about his bro. He thinks his Paps doesn’t care about him,” Blueberry replied.

“Ah I can see why he’d be upset then,” Papyrus said.

“I’m not fucking upset,” Sans protested as his pacing continued to make a rut in the snow. “Why would I fucking care if we were talking about my fucking brother? He’s a fucking asshole and my fucked up relationship with him is none of your fucking business.”

“Hey Edgy, it’s okay we don’t have to talk about your brother anymore,” Blueberry said walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder so he’d halt his furious pacing. “So just calm down and relax, all right? Let’s do another round and make sure my all my puzzles are ready, okay?” Blueberry then gently took his hand and started leading him.

Completely unfamiliar with Blueberry’s calm response to his anger and stress Sans dumbly allowed himself to be led. How was he supposed to respond to this? He’d never encountered anything like it before and wasn’t even sure what to think of it.

Normally when he started getting mad like that anyone nearby would either flee or egg him on until he practically exploded before also running away. And any time his brother caught him freaking out he’d force him to stop, which only just made it worse as soon as he was alone again. But he’d _never_ had anyone try to calm him down before.

“Why are you being so fucking nice to me?” Sans asked Blueberry once Papyrus was out of earshot, thankfully he hadn’t followed after them.

“Because you’re a version of myself, and that automatically makes us friends.”

“’Friends’?”

What could Blueberry ever gain by being his friend? Sans was new in town and had no power, so what did Blueberry want from him? But he didn’t actually seem to want anything for some reason, how odd.

“Yeah you know, friends. Even though we are very different, we’re still technically the same person so it makes sense for us to be friends. Also you’re all alone here and I get the feeling you could really use a friend.”

Just when he thought this version of himself couldn’t get any weirder, he goes and decides they were friends. Sans had never had a friend before, or at least not the way Blueberry seemed to think of friends. He was so confused about all this that his earlier stress and anger about his brother was temporarily forgotten in favour of trying to figure out what was up with Blueberry.

“So you’re calling me ‘Edgy’ now?” He asked thinking back to what Blueberry had called him earlier.

“Maybe not ‘Edgy’, but how about we call you… ‘Edge’? Does that seem like a good nickname to you?”

“That’s fine with me, I like to live life on the _edge_ anyway,” Sans said wondering what kind of reaction he’d get to that joke. He wasn’t disappointed with the surprised expression Blueberry shot him in response.

“What was my joke too _edgy_ for you? Didn’t you think it was _humerus?_ ” he said with a grin.

“Oh my gosh, you’re like Paps.”


	4. Duel

After they’d walked around Blueberry’s puzzles once more, they went back to waiting for a human to come. Sans didn’t think one would be coming in this universe either but Blueberry probably would never be convinced of that. So it was best to not even try.

It didn’t matter though because without his brother around to scold him he was able to fall asleep without worry. And hours later, when Blueberry woke him up it was with a gentle jostling not the usual rough hits and yells he was used to from his Papyrus.

“Come on, it’s time for my training session with Alphys,” Blueberry said once he was awake. “You want to come to?”

“’Training session with Alphys’?” Sans asked confused. What could Alphys possibly be training him to do? Was she teaching him science or something?

“Yeah, she’s Commander of the Royal Guard and she’s training me so that I can join someday too,” Blueberry said.

“Wait what?! Alphys is Commander of the Royal Guard? How is that even possible?”

“Yeah, you mean she’s not in your world? Then who is?”

“My brother, but that’s not what’s important right now...”

“Wow really, your Papyrus is Commander of the Royal Guard? That’s cool. What’s that like? But wait, I forgot you don’t like talking about your bro. So you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, and I won’t ask about him either.”

Sans didn’t think it was possible to be more confused than he had been last night, but he was damn close to it now. Finding out that Alphys of all people was Commander of the Royal Guard was mind boggling. But also despite Blueberry’s obvious excitement at finding out that Sans’ version of Papyrus was the Commander in his universe, he still wasn’t going to ask about it. If he wanted to know why should he care how Sans felt about it?

“Anyway come on I’ll introduce you guys,” Blueberry said pulling him to his feet. “Hey Paps me and Edge are headed to Alphys’,” he called to his brother when they were passing by the spot where he was napping.

“Yeah sure thing bro, see ya later,” Papyrus called to them.

Blueberry led him past Snowdin to Waterfall, to the place where Undyne’s house normally was. Only instead of the house being shaped like a fish head as Sans was used to, it resembled Alphys. He supposed it made sense since Alphys lived there instead of Undyne, but then where did Undyne live?

“I think you’ll like Alphys, she’s cool,” Blueberry said as he knocked on the door.

The Alphys who answered the door looked almost completely unlike the Alphys Sans knew in his universe. She stood as tall as her short frame would allow and confidently wore amour instead of a lab coat. A far fetch from the cowardly and malicious Royal Scientist he knew.

“Oh Sans there you are, right on time,” she said. “And I can see you brought your… twin? I didn’t know you had a twin you should tell me these things.”

“He’s not my twin, he’s me from another universe. He teleported here by accident and doesn’t know how to get back to his universe so he’s staying with me and Paps until then. We’ve been calling him ‘Edge’,” Blueberry explained.

“Oh, I’ve seen stuff like that in those human history shows that Undyne has. So you like teleported here out of the blue? No fancy machines or anything?” Alphys asked.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what happened.” Sans would have to figure out how he’d actually done it sometime in the near future, but for now he wasn’t in the mood.

“Wow that’s cool,” she replied. “So Edge you going to train with us today?”

“Uh no, I just came along to see how it was possible someone like Alphys could be Commander of the Royal Guard,” he said.

“Oh really, so I’m different your world? What am I like?” she asked.

“The version of you I know is the Royal Scientist.”

“Really? Wow, I was never any good at any of that science stuff,” Alphys said with a laugh. “That was always more of Undyne’s thing, which is why she’s the Royal Scientist here.”

Considering how weird everyone else was Sans shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that, but he was. The thought of Undyne being a scientist of any sort was bizarre, especially the Royal Scientist.

“In Edge’s universe he’s already part of the Royal Guard and his Paps is the Commander,” Blueberry said.

“Wow really Paps of all people? Your universe is real weird,” Alphys said.

Sans shrugged in response. It was their universe that was strange to him.

“Anyway Edge you should train with Alphys and me, it’ll be fun” Blueberry asked with an excited grin.

“Nah, I’ll watch,” Sans said. He was curious to see if Blueberry’s magic resembled his own and what Alphys’ was like. He’d never seen Alphys fight in his universe so he had no idea.

“Suit yourself,” Alphys said with a shrug as she and Blueberry moved to the front yard so they could spar. Sans leaned up against the house as he prepared to watch them.

Alphys’ battle magic turned out to be similar to Undyne’s from his world. The main difference being Alphys’ summoned magic axes instead of spears.

Blueberry’s magic though was similar to his own. But his waves of bone attacks weren’t as fast or as dense. And if he knew how to summon Gaster Blasters he didn’t, leading Sans to believe that maybe he didn’t know how.

After a while, though he got bored and ended up dozing off again. It was nice not having Papyrus around to yell at him for being lazy or to demand he go do this or that. He could really get used to this.

“Hey Edge,” Alphys woke him at what was probably an hour or so later. “Duel me, I wanna see if they can fight your universe.”

“A duel, really?” Sans had never liked fighting, partly because he was too lazy and partly because of his lack of physical durability. A couple solid hits from almost anyone and he’d be dust. Even Papyrus with his extreme control of his power had almost accidentally killed him on more than one occasion, even though a few of those times definitely weren’t accidental.

“Yes a duel. I wanna see if you’re as a good a fighter as Sans is here.”

“Really, you think I’m a good fighter Alphys?” Blueberry beamed from her praise. “You should duel her Edge, I bet it’ll be fun.”

Sans looked at them expecting him to say ‘yes’, they didn’t seem to even think it was possible for him to decline. He wanted to, but then they would think he was a weak coward.

Duels weren’t a common thing in his universe, but when they did happen they were always to the death. He’d even taken part in a few. Thankfully though most of the time he was left alone because of how easily he had won those few duels and because no one wanted to risk angering his brother.

Judging based off of how soft this world seemed so far and their general excitement over it he was pretty sure this duel wouldn’t be to the death. They might even allow him to decline if he wanted to. His pride wouldn’t let him though, they’d still think he was coward if he did.

“Fine I guess, whatever,” he said much to their delight.

“Yes, perfect,” Alphys said excitedly as they both moved into position on the training ground where she’d been sparring with Blueberry earlier. “Show me what you’re made of Edge Sans.”

“I’ll let you make the first move,” he said as he put on a nonchalant attitude. If he was going to this, he was going to make sure he would look cool in front of Blueberry, who was standing to the side excitedly watching them.

“All right let’s do this then,” Alphys said before throwing her first attack. A magically summoned throwing axe, easily dodged despite its speed.

Sans decided to pull out the big guns first: the Gaster Blasters. Four of them all firing at once. Alphys tried to block with another magic axe but quickly found that wasn’t going to work and ended up scrambling away before they could do too much damage to her.

“Wow, that was cool,” Blueberry said excitedly once the beams were finally done blasting.

Sans grinned wide. He knew with his eye blazing red and the four Gaster Blasters hovering above his head he must look pretty damn badass.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Alphys said. She was more than a little singed from where the Blasters had hit her. “Can you do anything like that Sans?”

“No, but I wish I could. How do you do that Edge?”

“I just summon them, they’re not really a big deal,” Sans said basking under Blueberry’s astounded gaze. He was lying of course, they were kind of a big deal. They took a lot magic to summon and even more to fire. And maintaining them for any significant length of time was always draining. But he liked the way Blueberry seemed impressed by them so he kept them floating above his head for now.

He’d never had anyone so openly impressed with him before. He had plenty of people who feared him, either for his own fighting powers or because of who is brother was, but never had anyone who thought he was cool. It was nice.

“Now Alphys wanna get back to our duel or do you forfeit?” Sans said turning the Gaster Blasters to face her once more.

Going back to their duel Alphys didn’t last much longer before she had to admit defeat. Between the Gaster Blasters and Sans’ regular bone attacks she didn’t stand a chance.

Sans felt relieved when he was finally able to let the Gaster Blasters disappear. He felt like taking a nap but didn’t want Blueberry to know just how much that duel had taken out of him. Of course, he’d made it harder on himself by keeping the Gaster Blasters up and firing the whole time, but it was worth it to impress Blueberry.


	5. Gaster

“Wow Edge you’re really good at fighting, no wonder you’re already in the Royal Guard,” Blueberry said to him when they were on their way back home after having supper at Alphys’ house. A supper she and Blueberry had made together as she was also teaching him how to cook. She had offered to let Sans help too but he had declined, choosing instead to take a much needed nap.

Sans wasn’t sure how to respond to Blueberry’s praise. He liked it, it made him feel good in a way he never had before. But never in his life had someone so sincerely praised him for anything, never had anyone looked at him and thought he was cool. So he didn’t know what to say.

“How do you summon those super cool dragon skull things?” Blueberry asked, full of his usual excitement that Sans was starting to get used to.

“The Gaster Blasters? I just summon them with magic.”

“They’re called ‘Gaster Blasters’? Why are they called that?”

“That’s what Gaster called them when he was teaching me how to summon them because he’s a fucking narcissist. And I’ve never cared enough to come up with a better name.”

“Who’s Gaster? I don’t think I know anybody here with that name. But it sounds familiar for some reason.”

Oh right, it was Papyrus who had been nearby when Gaster fell into the Core in this universe. Meaning Blueberry wouldn’t remember him, but Papyrus probably would.

“Gaster was the Royal Scientist before Alphys, or I guess Undyne in this world. He created the Core,” Sans explained assuming that to be the case. He couldn’t really know for sure considering how odd everyone in this universe was. But if Blueberry didn’t remember Gaster it had to because he fell into the Core, so he probably built it in this universe too.

“But why don’t I remember him then? I mean if he built the Core he should be famous right?”

“That’s because he fell into it and was shattered across space and time.”

“So he’s dead then?”

“He’s technically still alive but he might as well be since no one remembers him and he can’t really do anything.”

“Um okay I guess, but then why do you remember him?”

“Let’s just say I was _very_ close by when he fell in.” Sans would really rather not remember that. He occasionally still had nightmares about dangling helplessly by a fraying wire mere feet above falling to what was perhaps a fate worse than death.

“Why were you close by? I mean the Core is an awful long way away from Snowdin and I don’t think I’ve ever been in the building. I think Paps may have been a few times but I’m not really sure, my memories about that are kind of hazy for some reason.”

Sans barely managed to suppress a shudder at the thought of why he had been so close. “I used to work with him, I even helped him build the Core,” he said forcing himself not to think about falling into it anymore.

Of course him helping build the Core was an achievement no one else would ever remember. Everyone’s memories having anything to do with Gaster even just a little bit were hazy at best and as was more often the case completely forgotten. But he’d still done it, in fact it was pretty much the only thing he’d ever really done in his life. And it would probably remain that way considering how lazy and apathetic he was.

“Wow really? That’s so cool. It’s really weird how different we are even though we’re technically the same person. I mean if you helped build the Core that must mean you’re super smart. I’m smart too but not smart enough to work on anything like the Core and stuff like that. But I guess we’ll both be famous even if it is for different things, me for being in the Royal Guard and you for helping build the Core.” Blueberry said with a smile. It was like he never even considered the possibility that he might not ever join the Royal Guard. And even if he did what were the chances of him becoming famous in it?

“Ha, the only thing I’m famous for is for being Papyrus’ older brother. And even back when everyone remembered Gaster I was only known as his younger brother and assistant,” Sans scoffed at the thought of ever being famous for anything.

“Wait whoa what?!” Blueberry asked astounded, pausing in his tracks and pulling Sans to a stop too. “You mean Gaster was our brother? Like we had another brother other than Paps?”

“Well technically he’s still alive, or at least kind of. But yeah he’s our bro.” Sans had never really placed any value on Gaster being his brother but he guessed Blueberry probably would.

“Why didn’t you start with that? I mean that’s kind of a big deal. Oh wow, but now I feel bad, I can’t even remember my own brother,” Blueberry said thoughtfully as they started walking again, they were almost back to the house now. “Well what was he like then?”

“I don’t know what yours was like but mine was an asshole.”

“Oh so you don’t like him either?”

“I have a _very_ good reason not to like him.”

“Really what?”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Sans said tensely.

“Oh well I guess that’s all right then, but you say he taught how to summon those Blaster things? Do you think that maybe you could teach me too?”

“It’s technically possible but…”

Blueberry’s face lit up excitedly. “Yes! You should teach me, please. Please will you teach me?”

“Maybe.” Sans had no intention of teaching him but saying ‘no’ would no doubt only make him upset, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with that.

Just then they arrived back at the house. Blueberry excitedly skipped inside followed more slowly by Sans. Papyrus was lazing on the couch smoking again, he looked up as they entered.

“Hey Paps guess what, Edge says we used to have another brother but he fell into the Core and now no one can remember him because he was scattered across space and time or something like that,” Blueberry said in an excited rush.

“Oh so you told him about Gaster?” Papyrus said.

“Yeah you got a fucking problem with that?” Sans said instinctively bracing himself for pain in case he’d somehow displeased Papyrus. He wasn’t sure if this Papyrus would actually hurt him or not, but it had become so ingrained in him over the years to expect pain from his Papyrus that he was ready for it from this one too.

“No that’s fine,” Papyrus replied. “Yeah Gaster was our bro, and he did fall into the Core.”

“Really? How? And what was he like?” Blueberry asked.

“He was a lot like you, expect not quite as energetic. He fell in by accident when he was dropping various things in to see if anything would happen. I tried to save him but I wasn’t anywhere near close enough to do anything other than see him fall.”

“Oh I’m sad I can’t remember him,” Blueberry said. “But guess what, Edge also said he’d teach me to how to summon these dragon skull things that he calls Gaster Blasters because they were named after Gaster. He was dueling Alphys with them and they looked _so_ cool. Edge you should show Paps what they look like.”

“There’s no need, I can summon them too,” Papyrus said.

“Wait what? So you knew about Gaster and could summon the Blaster things and you never told me?”

“It never came up.” Papyrus shrugged. “But Edge’s told you now and he even said he’d teach you how to summon them. So I don’t have to worry about it.”

“I said no such thing,” Sans protested. He’d said ‘maybe’ but he meant ‘no’. He didn’t want to teach anyone anything. Especially when he still needed to work on finding a way back to his universe. Hopefully the sooner he got back the less his brother would punish him for being gone so long.

“Oh but Edge you have teach me, it’ll be fun,” Blueberry said giving Sans a pleading look. A look that said he’d be very sad and disappointed if Sans refused to teach him.

“Ugh fine, tomorrow I’ll teach you or whatever,” Sans gave in. He didn’t want Blueberry to be disappointed by him after how cool he had thought Sans was earlier.


	6. Gaster Blaster Lessons

The next day all three of them again went out to watch for humans who would probably never come. Blueberry had decided that Sans would teach him how to summon the Gaster Blasters while they waited after they’d made sure his puzzles were still in place. Sans was still hoping to find a way out of it but was beginning to think it wasn’t going to happen. He’d have to either suck it up and teach him or deal with him being disappointed and sad.

“Hey Edge, can I ask you something real quick?” Papyrus asked him as Blueberry was recalibrating one of his puzzles.

“Uh… sure,” Sans said tensing up. Private conversations with his Papyrus were never a good thing.

“I know you don’t like talking about your bro, but I was wondering what he did to you that made you so afraid of him and by extension me.”

Sans flinched. “I’m not fucking afraid of him or you. I don’t even know what made you fucking think that.” Sans had to fight the urge to start pacing again, his brother hated it when he paced so this one might not be a big fan of it either.

“I just noticed that you seem awfully on _edge_ around me. And last night when you thought I might be mad at you for telling my bro about Gaster you seemed to think that I might hurt you. And I was just wondering what it is that your universe’s version of me did that made you like that.”

“He didn’t do anything other than be a fucking asshole and I’m not fucking afraid of him.” Unable to pace Sans resorted to digging his claws into a nearby tree.

“Well just so you know I would never hurt you. Even if you are a bit rude sometimes you’re still a version of my bro and I don’t like seeing you afraid of me.”

“I… can’t… this…” This was too much for him. Despite Papyrus’ proximity Sans started vigorously pacing trying to contain his confusion and stress.

He couldn’t believe what this Papyrus had just said to him. It didn’t make sense; it was one of the most un-Papyrus thing he could’ve said.

“Hey Edge, what’s wrong?” Blueberry asked worriedly as he returned to their side. He put gently placed his hand on Sans’ shoulder, stopping him from pacing.

“Nothing,” Sans growled.

“I was asking him about his bro again,” Papyrus explained.

“Oh, Edge I’m sure whatever your problem with your bro is you’ll be able to sort it out when you find a way back to your universe. But for now, you don’t have to talk about it or think about it. So calm down and try to relax, it’ll okay I promise.”

Despite what he should be feeling Sans found himself being soothed. The fact that Blueberry was trying to calm him for seemingly no other reason than because he wanted to made him feel good. Blueberry was his friend and cared when he was stressing out, how could he not feel better when he’d never had someone like that before?

“There you go see, much better.” Blueberry smiled at him as the angry tension left his bones. “Now let’s hurry up and finish checking my puzzles so you can teach me how to summon the Gaster Blasters.” Blueberry took Sans hand in his own and resumed walking.

Maybe teaching Blueberry how to summon the Blasters wouldn’t be so bad after all. It would definitely get his mind of both versions of Papyrus and on how he was going to get back home.

 

Not even half an hour later they’d finished and Blueberry had them find a clear space that was also in sight of the path. Thankfully, Papyrus had gone on ahead to the sentry station close the Ruins’ door, so Sans wouldn’t have to deal with his watchful gaze.

“Okay, so how do I summon them?” Blueberry asked with an excited grin.

Sans took a few seconds to think about how to explain it, he’d never taught anyone anything before but he still remembered when and how Gaster had taught him. “Well I guess the first thing you need to know is that they take a lot more magic than you’re probably used to using. So you should only work on summoning one for now.”

“Okay, but how do I do it? And will they look the same as yours do?”

“I don’t think they’ll look the same but I don’t actually know. As for summoning them, think of how you summon your normal attacks only with a lot more magic thrown into it.” Sans demonstrated by summoning his own slowly, allowing Blueberry to see and sense what he was doing with him magic to create it.

Blueberry copied him. But even though his eye glowed a faint blue nothing happened.

Sans was surprised at the blue colour. His own eye glowed red so he thought Blueberry’s would too. It was yet another thing that made it obvious how different they were from each other despite the fact that they were the same person.

“Hmmm, this is isn’t working. Show me again,” Blueberry said after a few more failed attempts.

With a sigh Sans showed him again. “You need to put more magic into it,” he said.

“Okay, I think I got it this time,” Blueberry said with an optimistic grin as he tried again. No result other than his eye glowing a bit brighter.

In the end, it took a little over two hours before he finally managed to summon one. Less time than it had taken Sans when he was first learning, even though he’d been a lot younger at the time.

“Look Edge I finally did it,” Blueberry said excitedly pointing to it. It did look different to Sans’. It was smaller and friendlier looking with rounder edges and duller teeth. “Now how do I fire it?”

“Just fire it,” Sans said, summoning one of his own again and demonstrating.

When Blueberry’s fired it wasn’t as loud as Sans’ were and its beam was smaller. He was only able to sustain it for a second or two before exhausted he had to stop, the Blaster disappearing as well.

“Oh wow Edge, I did it,” he said was an excited grin despite how obviously tired it had made him.

“Yeah ya sure did,” Sans said with a shrug. In truth though he was kind of happy for Blueberry, hard not to be after how determinedly he’d been trying for the past two hours.

“Thank you for teaching me, even though I know at first you really didn’t want to.”

“Oh… you’re uh… welcome, I guess,” Sans said awkwardly, he’d never had anyone sincerely thank him like that before.

“But how did you summon four of those things yesterday? I just had the one and I’m already exhausted.”

“Practice,” Sans said with a smile as he sat down with his back against a tree. “You gonna take a nap now?” He was going to take a nap himself even if Blueberry decided to keep practicing for whatever stupid reason.

“No it’s the middle of the day, I can’t take a nap. Besides I still have to watch for humans,” Blueberry said, the lights in his eyes dimmed as he hung his head in exhaustion. “But I will sit down for… just a little… bit.”

He slumped down next to Sans. Despite his words he was asleep almost instantly with his head resting on Sans’ shoulder as he slightly leaned against him. It was a bit too close for Sans to be comfortable with, but he didn’t care enough to move and was soon asleep himself.


	7. Fights

Sans was woken up some time later when Blueberry moving away from him and standing up. While they’d been sleeping Sans had started leaning against him too, so when Blueberry suddenly stood up it almost caused him to fall over.

“Oh wow, I can’t believe I actually fell asleep. What if I missed a human?” Blueberry said.

“I doubt it,” Sans said as he reluctantly pulled himself to his feet with a yawn.

“Oh I guess probably not huh? But still I shouldn’t have fallen asleep like that. I’m going to be a Royal Guardsman one day and I need to be more professional.”

“Takin’ a nap every once in a while isn’t gonna hurt ya.” Sans couldn’t remember the last time he felt this rested, he’d never been allowed to get this much sleep back home.

“It’s still very unprofessional,” Blueberry said crossing his arms.

“Who the fuck cares if it’s unprofessional? Napping’s the only reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

“I think Paps said something like that once when I asked him why he spent so much time napping.”

“It’s lunch time, you have any good places eat in this universe?” Sans asked not wanting to talk about Blueberry’s confusing strange brother, who thankfully for the time being was nowhere to be seen.

“Well there’s Muffet’s, I know Paps goes there a lot and is probably there now if I had to guess, but…”

“Good let’s go,” Sans said as he started back towards Snowdin. He wanted to see how other people in this universe were different. But hopefully Blueberry was wrong and Papyrus wouldn’t be there.

“All right I guess,” Blueberry said after some hesitation when he followed.

“Hey bro, how’s it going?” Papyrus said as he suddenly teleported in front of them causing Sans to jump in surprise as he instinctively flinched away.

“Oh hey Paps, it’s going great, Edge taught me how to summon the Blasters,” Blueberry said apparently completely used to his brother appearing out of nowhere like that.

“That’s good, but did you enjoy your little nap?” Papyrus said with a mischievous grin.

“What? No, I would never nap on the job, I was just resting my eyes, that’s all,” Blueberry lied.

“ _I_ see,” Papyrus said with a wink. “But be careful about resting too much or the cops might ar _rest_ you as a person of inte _rest_.”

Was that really how Papyrus was going to react to catching his brother napping when he shouldn’t be? With jokes and puns?

Of course Papyrus wouldn’t really have a leg to stand on if he did scold Blueberry, since he’d napped plenty on the job as well. But still, seeing it made Sans feel weird. _His_ brother would never let him off so lightly or ever make a joke about it. His brother would’ve woken him up the second he found him napping and painfully too.

Thinking about it made him angry, so he quickly turned his head to the side so Papyrus wouldn’t see. Considering the conversation they’d had earlier that morning, this Papyrus was a lot more socially observant than his was. Which would make it even harder to avoid making him angry.

“Anyway where you two headed?” Papyrus asked, thankfully if he’d noticed Sans’ discomfort he didn’t say anything.

“We’re going to go to Muffet’s for some lunch, you want to join us?” Blueberry asked with a smile.

Sans grimaced at the thought of Papyrus coming along. He’d prefer it be just him and Blueberry. Mostly because Papyrus made him uncomfortable but also because he kind of liked just hanging out with Blueberry.

“I would but I just came from there,” Papyrus said much to Sans’ relief.

“All right, I guess we’ll see you later then,” Blueberry said before Papyrus teleported away again.

As they started walking again Sans started to wonder how it was actually possible that Blueberry didn’t fight with his brother. Of course it was possible they fought all the time in secret, he’d only been here a couple days after all, but he didn’t think so. They were too relaxed with each other and Blueberry was too nice to fight with anyone.

“Say uh Blueberry, is it all right if I call you ‘Blueberry’? Can I uh ask you something?” Sans asked.

“Yeah sure you can call me 'Blueberry', that's a nice nickname, ” Blueberry said smiling at him. “And you can ask me anything you want.”

“Does your brother ever…” ‘hit you’ Sans wanted to say but couldn’t without revealing the physical abuse he endured from his own brother. “…fight with you,” he said instead.

“Well sometimes, like when he makes a mess in the kitchen or living room and I tell him to clean it up and he says he’ll do it but then he never does. We argue about stuff like that but we’ve never really had any serious fights about anything. Why, do you and your bro fight sometimes? Is that why you seem so unhappy with him?”

“Yeah we uh… fight sometimes,” Sans said regretting bringing it up. He didn’t want to think about how their fights always ended. Sans never won any of them and any time their fights got physical, which they often did, he always got the shit beaten out of him. Heck occasionally when Papyrus was in a bad mood he’d get the shit beaten out of him for no reason other than making the slightest disagreement.

“Oh I’m sorry, but maybe when you return you’ll be able to talk to him about it and fix it. I’m sure he cares about you a lot, just like I know you care about him. You just need to talk it out with him, whatever you fight about can’t be so bad that you won’t be able to work together to fix it.”

How could someone like Blueberry even exist? And more to the point how could someone like Blueberry be an alternate version of Sans?

“How the fuck can you actually say something like that? You don’t know jack fucking shit about my brother or my universe. Talking about your problems would only get you fucking killed over there. My brother’s a horrible fucking asshole and telling him that would only make him angry,” Sans said digging his claws into a nearby tree as they walked by it.

“Oh but he can’t be all bad, he’s still a version of my brother and he’s one of the best people I know. I’m sure you can find a way to make up with your brother if you just try. So instead of getting all angry and upset about it try to be a little more positive.” Blueberry smiled as he lightly touched Sans’ arm.

“There’s nothing to be positive about,” Sans said trying to maintain his anger, it was hard when Blueberry’s only response to it was trying to make him feel better.

“There’s plenty to be positive about, you just have to look for it. When you return home you’ll see that your brother missed you and cares about you. And from there you’ll just have to try not to fight about things anymore.”

With a sigh Sans let his anger go. Blueberry was too naïve to believe any version of his brother could be a bad person. Heck he clearly believed _Sans_ was a good person despite all the times he’d almost become violent.

“Now come on, we don’t have to talk about that stuff anymore.” Blueberry smiled as he took Sans’ hand and increased their pace. “Instead let’s talk about other things in your universe that are different. Like you said that Alphys is the Royal Scientist in your universe, so what does Undyne do?”

“She’s second in command of the Royal Guard.”

They went on to discuss more things that were different between their worlds. Sans learned that in this world it was King Asgore who had run away and disappeared instead of Queen Toriel. And that it was Napstablook who had a robot body built for him instead of Mettaton. They of course avoided saying anything about Papyrus, thankfully.

By the time they reached Muffet’s, Sans was in a fairly good mood again. For whatever reason Blueberry’s infallible happiness made him feel better too.


	8. Muffet's

Muffet’s turned out to be in the same place as Grillby’s was in Sans’ universe. They even looked similar, with the juke box in the corner near the bar and tables up front. Obviously instead of Grillby manning the bar it was Muffet, she was putting all her extra limbs to good use: cooking, cleaning, and serving food all at the same time. But one thing did remain the same though, she was still in the pastry making business.

“Hey Muffet,” Blueberry greeted her as they sat at the bar, “This is Edge, he’s me from another universe.”

A long pause as she looked back and forth between them before saying, “I see.”

“You’re fucking weird Muffet,” Sans said. The Muffet he knew was greedy and had a tendency to talk a lot. This Muffet seemed to be a lot more like Grillby with his laconic nature.

Muffet scowled at him, “I’d prefer it if you didn’t swear in here.”

“I’ll fucking swear if I fucking want to.”

“Edge stop,” Blueberry said calmly. “I’m sorry Muffet that’s just how he is sometimes. Now Edge would you please stop swearing so much, it’s okay if you do it sometimes but maybe try doing it a little less.”

“Fine whatever, I guess I can _try_.” Sans had never had anyone politely ask him to not do something instead of demanding it of him. So he figured he could at least make an effort to do as Blueberry asked.

“Thank you.” Blueberry smiled at him.

“Now that that’s taken care of what’s your order,” Muffet said quickly moving on.

As they ordered Sans thought about all he had learned about this universe, how everyone’s personalities were off but still vaguely reminiscent of someone else. Muffet already reminded him of Grillby and even had his shop and Alphys was a lot more like Undyne and lived where she was supposed to. And all the other things Blueberry had told him about Napstablook and Toriel.

“I think I’ve finally figured out what’s up with your universe,” he said to Blueberry once Muffet left them to prepare their orders.

“Really, what?” Blueberry asked excitedly.

“Almost everyone’s personality is swapped with someone else’s. Like your Muffet is a lot more like the Grillby I know and your Alphys is more like Undyne. And I haven’t met your Undyne yet but she’s the Royal Scientist which is normally Alphys job.”

“Oh that makes sense, you’re a lot more like Paps than you are like me. So that must mean I’m more like your brother.”

“What? No Blueberry, you’re not like him in the slightest.”

Even having only known him for a couple days Sans could already tell that there was no one even remotely similar to Blueberry in his world. And Papyrus was probably the furthest from him as possible. Blueberry was kind and energetic where Papyrus was mean and bossy. The only thing they kind of had in common was Blueberry’s love for puzzles meant to trap humans was similar to Papyrus’ enthusiasm for death traps designed to kill humans.

No, there wasn’t anyone like Blueberry in his universe and if Sans had to guess there was probably no one like him in this universe either. He was too naïve and cheery for that to be the case.

“Oh but it makes sense, you’re like my bro so I should be like your bro. Even though obviously there would be differences, like you’re more stressed out than Paps and you get angry easier. So maybe your bro is like that too, maybe he’s like a grumpy version of me.”

“Your _nothing_ like my bro, okay? You’re too… nice, and a good person. So don’t compare yourself to him,” Sans said as he raked his claws across the across the bar’s wooden surface. It made him angry that Blueberry would ever think he was like Papyrus when they were opposites in every way that mattered.

“I… okay. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Blueberry said looking at him sorrowfully.

“Why the fu-… Why are you apologizing to me?” Sans had never had anyone genuinely apologize to him about anything.

“Because I know talking about your brother upsets you. Which is why I shouldn’t bring it up and I’m sorry that I did.”

Why should Blueberry care if he upset him? It still didn’t make sense and it probably never would.

He didn’t understand any of it. And not understanding stressed him out which only made him angry. As he started to stand up to pace, Blueberry placed both of his hand on his arm pulling him back into his seat again.

“It’s all right Edge, we don’t have to talk about it anymore. So just relax, okay?” he said patting Sans’ on the shoulder and smiling at him, and despite how confusing this still was Sans found himself calming down. “See look here’s Muffet with our food, so just sit and eat with me.”

“Trouble?” Muffet asked as she delivered their food.

“No, Edge was just stressing out about some things, but he’s okay now,” Blueberry said with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m cool now,” Sans said as he sheepishly covered up the claw marks he’d made on the bar with a napkin. If Muffet really was like Grillby she wouldn’t be happy to see he’d damaged her bar like that.

Before leaving Muffet gave Sans a look that said she knew about the claw marks and wasn’t happy about them but wouldn’t do anything about it right now.

As they ate they talked about Blueberry’s universe again mostly, (Sans didn’t want to burden him with tales of how messed up his own universe was in comparison). Blueberry did most of the talking which Sans was glad to listen to, it got his mind off his brother and he got to learn more about how this world was soft and friendly. It baffled him just how different their universes were, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it yet. But he was definitely grateful for the break he was getting from his brother and everyone else who hated him.


	9. Impressing Blueberry

After they’d finished eating they went to Alphys’ again.

“Hey Alphys, guess what Edge taught me how to do,” Blueberry said excitedly as soon as she answered his knock.

“Ooh, did he teach you how to summon those dragon laser things?” she asked also full of excitement.

“Yeah, they’re called Gaster Blasters. You want to see?”

“Heck yeah I wanna see!”

Blueberry moved to the sparring yard and stood across from a training dummy made from wood and cloth. Alphys and Sans stood to one side to watch.

Blueberry took a moment to gather his magic before summoning a Blaster. His eye blazing blue he fired it at the dummy. It immediately went up in flames and would have eventually been destroyed it if he’d had been able to hold the beam for longer than a few seconds.

“Oh wow Sans, you showed that dummy who’s boss,” Alphys said punching the air.

“Yeah I did, but Edge is a lot better at it than I am,” Blueberry said as his Blaster disappeared and he hung his head in exhaustion. “It’s exhausting summoning just the one, but he can summon four no problem.”

Blueberry said that like it was the coolest thing in the world. It made Sans swell with pride. He didn’t really deserve Blueberry’s admiration though. His battle magic was strong sure but physically he was weak, it wouldn’t take much to dust him. But he supposed Blueberry didn’t know that, and would hopefully never find out.

“Edge show us what you can do,” Alphys said gesturing to the smoking dummy.

“Yeah sure, why not?” he said with a grin, he’d always be happy to take an opportunity to impress Blueberry.

Stepping up to where Blueberry had stood before Sans took a few seconds to gather as much of his magic as he could. Then looking over to see Blueberry’s reaction he summoned ten Blasters at once in a circle hovering above the dummy. They made a horrendously loud noise as they all fired at once completely obliterating the training dummy and leaving a crater in the ground where it once stood.

“That was amazing!” Blueberry said excitedly as the Blasters faded from existence. “How did you summon so many of them? You’re like the strongest guy I know. Ooh one day I want to be as strong as you are. And like you are me so that should totally be possible.”

“Uh wow, thanks,” Sans said doing his best to pretend that hadn’t exhausted him in the least. But the tiredness was worth it as long as Blueberry continued to be impressed by him.

“Wow I guess I’m gonna have to get new training dummy,” Alphys said as she examined the smoking crater where her old one once stood. “Is everyone in your universe super strong or is it just you?”

“Nah, I’m pretty strong in comparison to a lot of the monsters back home too,” Sans said with a shrug.

It was kind of true, his battle magic was powerful but his endurance for it was poor. And he had to finish every fight as fast as possible or risk having his weaknesses discovered. As far as Sans was aware the only other monster who knew how weak he really was, was Papyrus. If it ever became common knowledge everyone would make it their mission to dust him. And not even their fear of how Papyrus would react would deter them.

He probably didn’t have to worry about that in this world though. But still they’d most likely think less of him if they ever did find out. And Blueberry would probably not be as impressed by him.

“So Sans you wanna get back to training with your new laser dragons?” Alphys asked summoning an axe and hefting it on her shoulder.

“Yeah… sure,” Blueberry said even though Sans knew he had to be tired.

And that soon become obvious to Alphys too. “Wow that dragon laser thing really took a lot out you, huh?” she said after only a few minutes of sparring.

“Yeah, it uh did,” Blueberry reluctantly admitted. “The Gaster Blasters take a lot of magic and I’m not used to it yet. And I really have no idea how Edge does it, he summoned like ten of them and doesn’t seem bothered by it all. How do you do it Edge? What’s your secret?”

“Lots of practice,” Sans said proud of how well he was hiding his own exhaustion. He could have easily fallen asleep right then and there but wanted Blueberry to continue to think summoning ten Blasters was no big deal for him even though it was. He could’ve summoned more but then he wouldn’t have been able to make them all fire at once, so it wouldn’t have been as impressive.

“Why don’t you go home early tonight,” Alphys said. “I need to fix up my front yard anyway.”

“Okay I guess, but do you think that when I master using the Gaster Blasters that I can finally join the Royal Guard?” Blueberry asked perking up a little.

“Uh maybe.”

Sans got the impression that Alphys was reluctant to let Blueberry join the Guard no matter what. He wondered why that could be since they seemed to be friends and that would make Blueberry extremely happy. But maybe it was because even in this world Blueberry was too nice for the Royal Guard.

“I’ll try my best then,” Blueberry dutifully promised unaware of Alphys’ reluctance. “Anyway Edge we should probably head back now. I think I need to rest for a bit.”

Feeling too tired to walk all that way, Sans took his hand and teleported them to the living room. He had to hold back a groan of frustration when he saw Papyrus was there, lazing on the couch smoking again. Sans wanted to nap but there was no way he could do so comfortably with Papyrus there.

“Oh hey guys, you’re home early,” Papyrus said.

“Yeah, I showed Alphys my Blaster thing but they’re really exhausting to summon so we finished training early,” Blueberry said.

“Yeah, they take a lot of practice to use effectively,” Papyrus said.

“Edge can summon a bunch of them all at once, it’s amazing,” Blueberry said as he sat on the couch next to Papyrus.

“Oh, so I guess you could say he’s a Master Gaster Blaster Caster.” Papyrus gave Sans a look that invited him to make a joke or pun or perhaps another rhyme in return. Meaning Blueberry had told him about Sans’ punning yesterday, probably when Sans had been napping.

He probably could’ve come up with a funny reply too if his mind hadn’t gone blank. For one Papyrus was basically admitting he wasn’t worthless, something his own bother had never and would never do. And he didn’t think he could ever get used to Papyrus making jokes, puns or anything like them. Also the fact that he obviously expected Sans to make a reply made him feel stressed out. Not to mention he was entirely too tired to deal with any of this right now.

After a few seconds of tense silence when it became obvious that Sans wasn’t going to reply Papyrus sighed. “Why don’t you come sit on the couch with us Edge?” he said.

“Yeah we can watch some T.V., Blooky’s show should be on right now,” Blueberry said pulling out the remote.

“Nah, I’m good,” Sans said as he started to edge away. He could go nap somewhere else, it didn’t matter where just as long as Papyrus wasn’t nearby.

“Aw, come on Edge please,” Blueberry said.

With a sigh Sans reluctantly sat on the couch next to Blueberry, who was luckily sitting in the middle so at least Sans didn’t have to sit directly next to Papyrus. But still he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to completely relax.

As it turned out Napstablook’s show was on and it was kind of similar to Mettaton’s show in Sans’ universe. Of course it wasn’t nearly as violent nor as vulgar as Mettaton’s was, but it was reminiscent of it nonetheless. Their square robot bodies even looked similar. It just proved Sans theory that the monsters in this world had their personalities swapped with a different monster from his, except for Blueberry of course.

Despite how nervous Papyrus made him still, Sans was too tired to stay awake for very long. The fact that the couch was extremely comfortable didn’t help much either and he eventually fell asleep after an hour or two.


	10. Date

When Sans woke the next day he decided he wanted to see what else was different other than Grillby’s being replaced by Muffet’s. Last night, before going to be he’d been considering if it was worth the effort and had decided it probably was. He wanted to know more about this world, Blueberry’s anecdotes about it were nice but he wanted to see some of it for himself.

“Hey Blueberry, how do you feel about taking a break from sentry duty today to show me what else is different in the Underground?” Sans asked before Blueberry could go back upstairs to wake up Papyrus.

Of course Sans could’ve gone by himself, but for some reason he liked the thought of Blueberry coming along as well.

“But what if a human comes and we miss them?” Blueberry asked obviously believing that was a possibility despite how unlikely it was.

“You could ask you brother to watch for humans,” Sans suggested. That would ensure Papyrus wouldn’t come too.

“I could but…”

Sans wasn’t sure how he would feel if Blueberry declined. He wasn’t even really sure why he cared if Blueberry wanted to spend time with him or not. But he couldn’t deny the fact that he did care and that it would make him happy if Blueberry agreed to spend the day with him again.

“Okay all right, I can show you around,” Blueberry said after some thought. “You’ve been here a few days now and no one’s shown you around yet so I guess it’s about time. And you were super nice and taught me how to summon the Gaster Blasters so I owe you. We can go after breakfast.” He then resumed making his way towards Papyrus’ room to wake him up.

Sans smiled at being called ‘super nice’, he’d never been called that before. Of course it wasn’t the slightest bit true, there was nothing nice about him. But if Blueberry for whatever reason wanted to believe he was nice, Sans wasn’t about to correct him.

The fact that he’d secured more alone time with Blueberry made him happy for some reason. He took a second to wonder why that was but then decided it didn’t matter.

“Hey Paps I’m going to show Edge around after breakfast if you want to join us,” Blueberry said as Papyrus finally exited his room a short time later and joined them in the living room.

Damn why did he have to invite Papyrus along? If he came he’d ruin the whole thing. What exactly he’d be ruining Sans didn’t know but he didn’t want Papyrus there.

Papyrus sighed as he looked in Sans’ direction, “Nah bro, somebody has to watch the path in case a human falls today,” he said.

Wait, had he declined because he knew it would make Sans uncomfortable? Or was he just being lazy? Or was it something else entirely?

“Yeah okay, but normally you’re not as into the idea of watching for humans as I am,” Blueberry said.

“Yeah well I know you’d be very disappointed if you missed a human, so I’ll keep an eye socket out in case one decides to fall today. That way you don’t have to worry about it while you’re on your date with Edge. Besides we can’t both take the day off.”

Sans almost protested to it being referred to as a date but decided it wasn’t worth it. He preferred to avoid interacting with Papyrus as much as possible.

 

Blueberry decided to show him around Snowdin and the areas surrounding it first. The town was similar to the one in his universe but the overall atmosphere was different. The people they walked by didn’t give them hateful looks checking for exploitable weaknesses. Even the colours everyone wore were softer. And there was a distinct lack of the colour black, meaning Sans’ jacket made him stand out like a sore thumb. But nobody seemed to hate him for it, they only gave him curious looks before moving on.

One of the oddest things though was the evergreen tree in the middle. It had strange colourful baubles hanging off its branches of various shapes and sizes. Underneath were colourfully wrapped boxes with bowties on top. Sans had seen it before and had always been curious about it.

“What’s the deal with this tree? Why is all that stuff hanging off it?” he asked as they were about to walk by it.

“Oh this tree is the tree we put all the gifts under. It’s a holiday tradition but everyone likes it so much we keep it up all year round. Surely you have something similar in your universe, right?” Blueberry replied.

“We have some holidays but nothing involving putting a bunch of… junk on trees and stuff.”

The holidays in his own universe were more about violence and getting drunk. He hated them because it meant his brother would always come home drunk and give him a harsh beating for literally no reason. So he always tried to lock himself in his room on those days, not that that stopped his brother when he was determined enough to get at him. In those instances, he didn’t even bother with his usual pretending to try to fight back, it was better to just get it over with as soon as possible. And the fact the that Papyrus was usually shit faced drunk on those days meant he might accidentally kill Sans if he got too mad, so it was best not to provoke him.

“Oh… well basically how it works is once a year Santa comes by and gives everyone who was good that year presents. Of course everyone else exchanges gifts too. All the gifts always go under trees decorated like this one. I always make sure me and Paps get the best tree and put all our decorations up first so that we can impress Santa.”

“You say this Santa person gives you and a bunch of other monsters presents? Why?”

“Because he’s Santa, that’s what he does. He gives every monster who was good that year presents,” Blueberry said as if that was that most logical thing in the world.

“But why? What does he get out of it? Do you pay him or something? Is it some kind of exchange thing?”

“I guess you don’t understand. He gives people gifts because that’s just what he does. If you’re still here when it’s time for him to come, you’ll see.”

With a sigh Sans accepted that he would probably never understand whatever this strange holiday was supposed to be. There had to be more to it, there was no way someone would give total strangers free stuff if they didn’t get anything out of it.

“Let’s just move on,” he said.

Next Blueberry decided to introduce him to the dog guards: Dogamy, Dogaressa, Greater Dog and Lesser Dog. All four of them were hanging out just outside Muffet’s, as they normally worked the evening shift. They looked different from the versions Sans knew, they lacked the numerous battle scars and in his world Lesser Dog was dead.

“Hey guys, this is Edge. He’s me from another universe, I’m showing him around,” Blueberry said.

“Ooh, he certainly smells like you,” Dogamy said as they moved towards Sans to sniff him.

Sans instinctively took a step back growling softly and raising one clawed hand in an obvious threat. Instead of growling back the dogs seemed confused, as if they expected him to just sit there and let them do whatever they wanted to him.

“Hey Edge what’s wrong?” Blueberry asked also looking confused.

“They’re dogs Blueberry, and we’re skeletons, we’re made of bones. Dogs tend to want to eat bones which means they want to eat us.”

When Sans had first moved to Snowdin the dog guards had tried their best to eat him and Papyrus. They would’ve ripped him to shreds if he hadn’t killed Lesser Dog and given the rest several scars that they’d never forget. And even so he’d barely made it out of that encounter alive, if Papyrus hadn’t been there helping then they both would’ve been dust.

It was because of that incident that Papyrus had learned how physically weak he was, how easy it would be to kill him. And he’d never let Sans forget it.

“But they won’t eat us, they’re nice. Right guys?” Blueberry said.

“Right,” Dogamy and Dogaressa said in unison giving Sans a nervous look.

“How do you know?” Sans asked forcing himself to at least lower his claws. This world was a softer place so of course the dogs wouldn’t be as brutal either.

“I’ve known them for years and they’ve never tried to eat me or Paps. Are they really that vicious in your world?”

“Yes, they’ve tried to uh bite me a few times.” Sans couldn’t let Blueberry know the extent of their viciousness, of how’d they shred any monster that got in their way or happened to make them mad somehow. Greater Dog still even tried to attack him occasionally, but Sans always deterred him by either clawing his face or summoning a Gaster Blaster.

“Oh, but these guys won’t hurt you, you can even pet them if you want to.” Blueberry walked over and began petting Greater Dog, who happily started wagging his tail as the other dog guards crowded closer hoping to be pet as well.

“Yeah, Edge Sans we won’t hurt you promise. So come pet us,” Dogamy said also wagging his tale.

Reluctantly Sans moved closer, the dogs seemed to have forgotten his earlier threat to them as they waited to be pet by either him or Blueberry. And despite Sans’ better judgement he did. Following Blueberry’s lead he ran his hand through Lesser Dog’s fur.

At first it seemed normal, other than the fact that he was _petting_ this world’s version of somebody he’d killed a long time ago. But after a few seconds Lesser Dog’s neck seemed to start… growing? Curious Sans pet him some more, and yep Lesser Dog’s neck was definitely getting longer.

“Uh… Blueberry, why his neck getting longer?” Sans asked.

“Oh he does that when you pet him.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, he just does.” Blueberry looked at Dogamy and Dogaressa for an answer but they shrugged as well.

“How long does his neck get?” Sans asked as he took a step back from Lesser Dog.

“You want to find out?”

“No, not really,” Sans started to say but it was too late, Blueberry had already started vigorously petting Lesser Dog’s head causing his neck to start growing rapidly.

After several minutes Blueberry asked to stand on Sans’ shoulders. He would’ve refused if it wasn’t for the fact that Blueberry seemed super excited by the prospect of seeing how long Lesser Dog’s neck could get. So he reluctantly allowed Blueberry to stand on his shoulders, luckily being a skeleton he wasn’t very heavy.

But after a while it became obvious that there’d be no end to it. Sans decided he’d had enough and much to Blueberry’s (and all the dogs’) disappointment he put him back on the ground and insisted that they move on.


	11. Wish Upon a Star

They moved onto Waterfall. Sans of course had already seen some of the areas leading up to Alphys house. But one thing he hadn’t seen in detail were the Echo Flowers. Of course they existed in his world too but were often uprooted and destroyed since no one liked having their conversations recorded.

“Watch this,” Blueberry said as they approached one, “Sans is going to be the best Royal Guardsman ever,” he said proudly into it. He grinned as it repeated his words back at him. “Now you say something Edge.”

“Nah I’m good,” Sans said.

“Aw come on it’s fun. Just say one little thing please.”

“Fine I guess.” Sans gave in. “Why was the flower arrested? For _stalk_ ing someone,” he said into the flower.

“Really Edge? You’re going to make the flower say bad jokes?” Blueberry said after the flower had repeated Sans’ words.

“Yeah I know that pun was real _petal_ ful, wasn’t it?” Sans grinned.

“You’re the worst,” Blueberry said jokingly.

“Really? Am I not _pun_ ny enough for you? Don’t you find my _edgy_ jokes _humerus_?”

“Okay Edge that’s enough, _leaf_ off making bad jokes for now.”

Sans couldn’t hold back a small surprised laugh at Blueberry making a pun back at him. It was really undignified and embarrassing. Laughing wasn’t something he allowed himself to do very often even when he found something funny. It meant letting his guard down, which was always a bad thing where he came from.

But Blueberry seemed extremely pleased with himself for having made Sans laugh even if it was mostly just from surprise. So Sans supposed he could let it slid for now.

“I thought you weren’t into making jokes,” he said.

“I’m not, it was a onetime thing so don’t except me to do it again. Now come one, I want to show you something else. Even though I guess you probably have it in your world too, but still it’s cool.” Blueberry took Sans’ hand and began leading him.

The thing he wanted to show Sans turned out to be the crystal room. The room with the glowing crystals on the ceiling that supposedly resembled stars from the Surface.

The room was different from the one Sans knew in his universe. There wasn’t any graffiti or trash littered around the place. There were even ‘stars’ on the walls. In Sans’ universe any of the glowing crystals in arms reach had been removed long ago, presumably to be sold for a high price.

“See isn’t it pretty? Even though I guess you’ve probably already seen it in your world a bunch of times,” Blueberry said.

“Yeah, but I guess it’s nice seeing it here too.” Sans shrugged. He’d never taken time to really look at it in his universe. He vaguely remembered having tried once when he was a kid but big brother Gaster had quickly pulled him away saying he shouldn’t be impressed by the beauty of something. That that kind of stuff was only for sentimental fools. But Blueberry was right, it was pretty.

The glowing crystals stood out beautifully against the almost black rock making up the ceiling and walls of the cavern. They glowed just bright enough that the usual lamps weren’t necessary to see by. Meaning in a way the time of day never changed here, it was always perpetually nighttime.

“In your world do you do the making a wish on the stars thing?” Blueberry asked.

“Uh… no, that sounds really dumb.”

“It’s not dumb. If you make a wish on them, it sometimes comes true. Like one time I wished for an opportunity to get stronger so I can join the Royal Guard one day and a few weeks later was when I started training with Alphys.”

“That probably had nothing to do with your wish.”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe it didn’t, but making the wish didn’t hurt anything,” Blueberry said. “So come on if you’ve never done it before you should make a wish and then you’ll see if it comes true.”

“It’s not gonna come true, so why bother?”

Even if he did make a wish what could he possibly wish for? There was nothing he really wanted. Other than perhaps a way a home, but he was still enjoying the break he was getting from his brother.

“Aw come on Edge, even if it never comes true it doesn’t hurt to try. Besides it’s fun. So come on just make one little wish, you don’t even have tell what it is if you don’t want to.”

“Fine okay, if it’ll make you happy.”

But what could possibly wish for? He could wish that his brother was such an ass, or that his world wasn’t such a shitty place in general. But those things would obviously never happen. But he supposed he could wish that Blueberry never figured out that Sans wasn't really all that great.

He looked up at ceiling again as he made his wish. He wondered if that really was how the stars looked up on the Surface. Sadly, he’d probably never find out.

“There I made a wish, ya happy now?” he said turning to look at Blueberry again who wore his ever present smile.

“Yes, so what did you wish for?”

“You said I didn’t have to tell you.”

“Well that’s okay. I wished for that when you find your way back home that you’ll be able to make up with your brother and be friends with him again.”

“Blueberry…” Sans began.

“Yeah I know you don’t like talking about it and you don’t have to. That’s just what I hope will happen. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a serious fight with Paps about anything, especially one bad enough to stay mad at him for so long. That must be what you’re stressing about every time we start talking about your brother, right? And I just hope that when you return you’ll be able to fix whatever you were fighting about and be friends again.”

_That_ would never happen, not even in a million years. When Sans returned home he’d be in for a beating of a lifetime, a beating that might be end up being fatal. His death might not even be accidental. Papyrus had often threated to kill him if he messed up too badly, and he’d certainly messed up _real_ bad this time.

Before he could start pacing from those horribly stressful thoughts Blueberry took his hand again and smiled at him. “Let’s move on now, okay? You don’t have to think about it, so just relax.”

As they started moving again, Blueberry talked to him about other times he was convinced wishes he’d made on the ‘stars’ came true. Sans was sure all of them were just coincidences and told Blueberry that, but Blueberry didn’t care. But it was better than talking about his brother so he was glad to listen to Blueberry ramble on.

Nearing the place where Waterfall met Hotlands was a sentry station. Unfortunately, at this sentry station was this world’s Papyrus napping and even more unfortunately he looked up as they approached.

Sans wondered how he had gotten there without passing them but then remembered that Papyrus could teleport. Sans had done similar things in his universe to confuse people.

“Hey bro, how’s your date with Edge going?” Papyrus said.

Again Sans wanted to protest to it being called a date but didn’t want to interact with Papyrus if he could help it.

“It’s not really a date Paps. I’m just showing him around, that’s all,” Blueberry replied.

“Whatever you say Sans. So Edge you having fun? There any major differences between this world and yours?”

“Geographically it’s mostly the same,” Sans said with a shrug.

“What do you think of our universe in general so far Edge?” Papyrus asked.

“It’s uh… okay I guess.”

In truth he wasn’t sure what he thought of it. Everyone was so nice, especially Blueberry, and everything was softer. Anyone from this universe would be dusted instantly if they ever ended up in Sans’ universe. But no one here had to worry about being dusted by their neighbours, so of course they wouldn’t be as strong as the monsters from his world. Whether that kind of weakness was a good thing or a bad thing he wasn’t sure yet.

But one thing Sans did know for sure was that he didn’t belong here. He was too harsh and mean to ever truly be able to fit in here. How Blueberry and Papyrus somehow hadn’t picked up on that yet Sans didn’t know, but he knew it couldn’t last.

“So Edge when you do find a way back to your world, can we come visit?” Blueberry asked excitedly.

“Uh… maybe.”

There was no way Sans could ever let Blueberry visit his universe. It would ruin his sweet naïve view of the world; he’d learn that not everyone was a good person. And Sans didn’t want to be the one to destroy his innocence like that.

“Yippee, I bet it’ll be fun. And do you think you’d be able to travel to other universes too? Then we could see all sorts of different kinds of versions of us. You’re _super_ different from me so maybe there are other versions of us who are also super different and interesting. And then we could all be friends.”

“I don’t know.” Sans shrugged. He hadn’t really considered what would happen once he figured out how he’d teleported here. In theory if he could master the ability he’d be able to go to any universe he wanted. What he’d do with that power he didn’t know but it’d be interesting to have nonetheless.

“Anyway bro, why don’t you show him Hotlands and introduce him to Undyne. I bet she’d be excited to learn that travel to other universes is possible,” Papyrus said.

“Yeah sure, come on Edge let’s go. You’ll probably like Undyne she’s super smart like you and Paps.” Blueberry took his hand again and started leading him towards Hotlands once more.


	12. Lab

The outside of the lab looked similar to the one in Sans’ universe. The inside looked different from what he remembered though. It was messier than when he had worked there with Gaster, but it also had a more relaxed atmosphere.

Undyne didn’t even notice when they walked in. She was too absorbed in watching something on one of her computer monitors. It looked like some kind of cartoon, probably from the Surface since it featured human characters.

“Hey Undyne, what’s up?” Blueberry said loudly causing her to jump in surprise as she hurriedly turned to face them.

“Oh h-hey Sans, who’s your uh friend?” Undyne asked shyly. She wore a lab coat instead of the armor Sans normally saw her in. But he was used to how weird everyone was in this universe by now so he wasn’t surprised.

“This is Edge, he’s me from another universe.”

“What?! Really? I mean he looks like you sure but uh… that can’t… he can’t really be from another uh universe, can he?”

“Yeah, I’m him from another universe,” Sans said with a shrug.

“Oh but uh how did you get here?”

“I teleported.”

“But you don’t just… teleport to another universe. That would uh take like a _lot_ of magic,” Undyne said.

“It did, I fainted afterwards.”

“You did? Where was that?” Blueberry asked.

“A short distance away from where my sentry station was. I know I slept for at least like half the day. And then I woke up for an hour or two when I met you guys before falling asleep again for the rest of the night. So yeah, it was pretty exhausting.”

“But uh like it shouldn’t even be uh possible. Like P-Papyrus said he could only teleport to places he’s uh been to before. And you’ve uh clearly never been here before. So uh how did you do it?” Undyne said.

“I don’t know, I just did. So like get off my back about it,” Sans said barely managing to keep his promise to Blueberry to not cuss as much. Undyne’s stuttering was worse than his version of Alphys’ was, making it more annoying.

“But isn’t it cool Undyne? Think about all the possibilities when he figures out how he did it. He could go to any number of cool universes and maybe he’d even bring me with him sometimes. Wouldn’t that be fun to see a bunch of other universes?” Blueberry said excitedly.

“Well yeah I uh guess that’d be cool. But I still want to know how he uh did it,” Undyne replied.

“I’m sure he’ll figure out how he did it in no time.”

Sans couldn’t help but enjoy Blueberry’s confidence in him. He was sure if he really tried he could figure it out eventually. But he wasn’t in the mood to put very much effort into it right now. And he didn’t really care to either, it meant it’d be longer before he had to deal with his brother again. Of course he couldn’t stay forever, so he’d have to figure it out eventually but it could wait a bit. At least until Blueberry started to get tired of him.

“In the meantime though he’s staying with me and Paps. I’m currently showing him around the Underground so he can see all that’s different between his world and ours,” Blueberry said.

“Oh are there any uh major differences between our uh world and his?” Undyne asked.

Blueberry started happily rattling off everything Sans had told him about his universe.

As they talked, Sans took a moment to explore the lab a little. It’d been ages since he’d been in here. After Gaster fell in the Core, he’d had pretty much given up on science, mostly because of how much he hated Gaster.

He had liked doing science stuff at first. But after the completion of the Core when Gaster had gone out of his way to take _all_ the credit, telling everyone that everything Sans had contributed was his work too, Sans’ opinion on the subject had soured. He’d been quite young at the time, young enough to have still been in school if he hadn’t graduated early. So of course no one had believed him when he’d tried to tell them the truth.

And he had to admit he was still bitter about it, even though it had been years and no one remembered Gaster anyway. In fact, he was still bitter about everything Gaster had done to him. Any and every project they’d worked on together Gaster had always claimed all the credit for. Even when Sans had done 90% of the work on some of them. Gaster had made him work long hours with little to no sleep but claimed that the only thing he did was get coffee and clean. And then as a cherry on top he’d tried, and almost succeeded in pushing Sans into the Core.

So as soon as he was free from Gaster’s tyranny he’d taken his younger brother Papyrus and moved to Snowdin, as far from the lab and Core as he could get. He’d brought Papyrus along solely because he was family and that was what you were supposed to do. Even back then Papyrus hadn’t been nice to him. He’d seen how Gaster treated him and had done his best to imitate it, even after he’d forgotten Gaster he still did it. Sans hadn’t cared enough to think that the abuse might eventually go beyond mere insults, but he’d been dreadfully wrong about that.

As a result of all that, he’d ended up hating his whole family from a young age. His dad had always favored Gaster over him, and was a raging alcoholic. He’d gotten himself dusted in a drunken brawl shortly before Gaster and Sans had started working on the Core. His mother he had only vague memories of since she’d died very shortly after Papyrus had been born, he’d been barely out of his toddler years at the time. But with his luck she’d have been horrible to him too, so he probably wasn’t missing much.

But then again here he was in this world. A nice cozy happy little universe where everyone was nice to each other. And Blueberry who liked him just because. Or at least he liked him for now, eventually he’d figure out that Sans wasn’t really that great a person and wouldn’t want to be friends anymore.

But still even if it was only temporary it was a _very_ nice change of pace having someone like him for once. Even though Blueberry’s reasons for liking him were beyond his comprehension. He just hoped he wouldn’t accidentally mess it up somehow. Even though he knew probably would at some point.

He supposed it was probably the first time he liked someone as well. Blueberry was too nice and sweet not to like. When Sans eventually had to leave he knew he would miss Blueberry, probably a lot too. But he would just have to get over that.

“Hey Edge, what are you so lost in thought about?” Blueberry said pulling him out of his reverie.

“Oh I was just thinking about stuff. It’s been years since I last saw this place, it’s different. But I suppose that might have something to do with the fact that it’s in another universe,” Sans replied.

“Oh yeah I forgot, you’re into science stuff. Guess what Undyne, in his world Edge helped build the Core.”

“Wow really? That’s uh impressive. But now that I think about it, I uh don’t really know who built the Core in this uh universe,” Undyne said thoughtfully.

“Oh I know who built it, it was Gaster. He was Paps’ and my older brother, but he fell into Core which is why most people don’t remember him because he was shattered across space and time or something like that,” Blueberry said in an excited rush.

“Oh I uh see… I think,” Undyne replied with a confused expression on her face.

But before anyone could say anything else they were interrupted by the arrival of none other than Napstablook. He loudly burst through the doors causing everyone to turn to look at him. His squareish robot body was more rounded and smaller than the Mettaton Sans knew, and the lights on his face made a made a blue B instead of a red M. But other than that they were almost identical.

“Hello darling Undyne and Sans I believe your name is right?” he greeted them.

“You remember me?” Blueberry’s face lit up excitedly.

“Well of course darling, I’ve met you like twice before now. But I haven’t met your grumpy looking twin yet, what’s his name?” Blooky replied gesturing to Sans.

“This is Edge and he’s not my twin, he’s me from another universe.”

“That’s interesting. How’d you get to this universe Edge Sans?” Blooky asked.

“I teleported, and don’t ask how because I don’t know,” Sans said.

“Oh I see. Anyway Undyne dear, I came to ask how close you are to finishing the plans for my new body.”

“Oh I’m uh almost done, I just need to do a few more things before I can uh start actually making the correct m-modifications,” Undyne said with a shy smile.

“Hmmm, okay then but do please hurry, I’m oh so eager to be even more fabulous than I already am,” Blooky said with a haughty attitude.

Sans decided that he disliked Blooky almost as much as he disliked Mettaton from his world. They were both too arrogant for his tastes, not as arrogant as his brother but still.

“Anyway Blueberry let’s go look at the rest of Hotlands,” Sans said wanting to get out of the lab and away from Undyne and Blooky.

“I… okay,” Blueberry said reluctantly following Sans out.

The rest of Hotlands didn’t take very long to explore. It was all almost exactly the same as the Hotlands from Sans’ world. They even ran into Papyrus again and ended up sharing lunch with him. Thankfully Sans didn’t have to interact with him too much and it wasn’t for very long anyway.

Their version of MTT Resort was also basically the same and not a whole lot happened there. Sans declined going into the building that housed the Core. He didn’t want to dredge up his anxiety about falling into it.

“So Edge what do you think about our universe?” Blueberry asked with his ever present smile as they were starting to head back by taking the ferry.

“It’s… nice, I think I like it,” Sans said. He did like it, he didn’t care if everyone in this world was weaker than those in his world. He didn’t care that it was strange and bizarre and unlike anything he’d ever imagined could be possible even in an alternate universe. He didn’t even really understand it and didn’t think he ever could, but he liked it. He was glad he got this opportunity to experience it.

Some small part of him wished he could stay here, but he knew he couldn’t. He didn’t belong here and never would. Blueberry would eventually learn that he wasn’t what he pretended to be and wasn’t a very good person at all. When that happened Sans would have to leave, he didn’t think he could bear to be around when Blueberry stopped liking him. Besides everyone expected him to want to go back, so really he had no choice.


	13. Painful Truths

About a week went by with not much happening. Sans spent most of his time hanging out with Blueberry. Every day was almost the same, first they’d have breakfast (almost always pancakes), then they’d stand sentry duty, Sans napped through most of it. Then they’d have lunch, always tacos or Muffet’s, and Blueberry trained with Alphys every day except on the weekends. For dinner it was _always_ tacos and then they’d always watch Blooky’s show afterward. That was the only time Sans left Blueberry’s side, mostly because Papyrus was there but also because he couldn’t care less about the show.

Sans didn’t mind that everyday played out almost the same, as long as he didn’t have his brother there yelling at him he was fine. He didn’t mind eating the same things everyday either, it was better than food from his own universe. Pretty much the only thing he did miss from his world was the mustard at Grillby’s but that wasn’t that big a deal.

He still wished sometimes that he could stay. But the longer he was here the more he realized just how much he didn’t belong. If the monsters here knew even half of the horrible things he’d had to do in order to survive in his world they would all hate him, especially Blueberry. And that would hurt more than anything.

So he would have to seriously start looking for a way home soon before he inevitably ruined his friendship with Blueberry. But maybe he could relax here for a few more days at least.

They were on sentry duty again it was almost time for it end so Sans was just waking up from his nap. Papyrus was still elsewhere so he still felt relaxed.

“Hey Edge can I ask you something?” Blueberry said looking down at him where he sat with his back against a tree.

“Uh yeah sure, what is it?” he replied.

“Why do you always seem so… nervous around Paps? At first I thought that maybe you were just like that, but you’re relaxed most of the time when it’s just you and me. But anytime Paps is nearby especially when he talks to you, you get all… tense and nervous, almost like you’re a little afraid of him or something.”

“Uh…” Sans tried to come up with a logical explanation for his behaviour that wasn’t the truth but his mind came up blank. He couldn’t let Blueberry know that he _was_ a little afraid of Papyrus. That fear was caused by the fear he had for his own Papyrus, revealing it would at least hint at how his brother treated him.

“Does it have something to do with your brother? I know you don’t like to talk about him but… I just want you to feel comfortable around Paps,” Blueberry said sitting down in front of him so that they could talk face to face.

“I uh… yeah, it’s because of my brother. But it’s not anything you need to worry about.” Sans _really_ did not want to talk about this, he’d rather talk about almost anything else.

“You know Paps would never ever do or say that would ever hurt you in any way, right?”

“Yeah I know, it’s just… he looks almost exactly like my brother. But he’s so… calm and not awful, it freaks me out. And like part of me still expects him suddenly turn violent and get angry at me or something. And I just… ugh.” Sans violently clawed at the nearest tree. He wanted to stand up and pace until his legs were numb and he was too tired to feel feelings, but he couldn’t not with Blueberry here. So instead he got what little stress relief he could from the sweet feel of wood parting beneath his claws.

“Oh, so your brother’s violent. Does he… accidentally hurt you sometimes? Is that why you’re afraid of him?”

“I’m not fucking afraid of him,” Sans said growling softly, an obvious hint that he didn’t want to talk about this anymore.

“It’s okay if you’re afraid of him, I won’t judge you.” Blueberry of course wasn’t the least bit intimidated. “I just want to know _why_ you’re afraid of him so that maybe I can help you.”

“Why the fuck do you even care?”

“Because we’re friends and…”

“And why the fuck would you want to be my friend? I haven’t done anything particularly friendly. Fuck, when we first met I threatened you, remember? And since then you have to have picked up on my potential to be violent. Why do you think I’m so good at battle magic? And what about my claws? You’ve seen what they can do to trees, what do you think they could do to another monster?” Sans brandished his claws for emphasis.

“I don’t believe you would hurt me or anyone else here. I think you’re a good person even if you can be a bit… angry sometimes. And you’re interesting and fun to hang out with, well when you’re not… you know.” Blueberry gestured towards him clearly referring to his current state of stress and anger. “You’re another version of me but you’re so different, I like those differences and I like you too. And all of that is why we’re friends.”

“And what if I told you I’ve killed other monsters before? And that I’ve done so a number of times.” There was no way Blueberry could like him now, not knowing that. He’d fucked it up for himself by saying that, and the look of shock on Blueberry’s face hurt more than he’d thought it would but he’d had to say it. He liked that Blueberry thought he was good person, but it simply wasn’t true. He liked that Blueberry thought they could be friends, but they couldn’t. Not with Blueberry being super nice and Sans being… not nice.

“I’m sure you must have had a good reason. Or maybe it was an accident,” Blueberry said giving him a sad look.

“It was self-defense; they were trying to kill me. But when I delivered the killing blow I fully intended for them to die, and I don’t regret it one bit.” Sans didn’t take pleasure in killing the way his brother and a lot of other monsters he knew did, but that didn’t mean he was afraid or reluctant to do it when he had to. In his world it was kill or be killed, and he simply wouldn’t allow anyone else to kill him. “So do you hate me now?”

“No, I don’t hate you.”

“What?! Why not?”

“Because I still believe you’re a good person and that you can do better than that.”

Sans froze unable to comprehend what Blueberry had just said. He’d just admitted to killing on a semiregular basis and Blueberry _still_ liked him. Blueberry should _hate_ and possibly fear him, but he didn’t. He still thought Sans was a good person even though he’d just proven he wasn’t.

“Your world must a lot different from mine,” Blueberry continued seemingly unaware of Sans’ discomfort. “It must be more violent and scary, with monsters trying to hurt each other and stuff. But you’re here now and you don’t have to kill anyone anymore, and I know you won’t.”

What had Sans ever done to deserve a friend like Blueberry? The answer was he didn’t, he didn’t deserve Blueberry’s friendship one tiny bit. Sans was worthless garbage in comparison to him, and Blueberry should by all rights hate his nonexistent guts like every other monster Sans had ever met did.

“Blueberry, I just told you that I’ve _killed_ a bunch of monsters and don’t even have the decency to regret it. I’m _not_ a good person. So stop saying that I am, and just hate me already.” Sans growled hating himself for ruining the only good thing that had ever happened to him. But it was too late to take any of it back, and even if he could he wasn’t sure he would want to. Blueberry was bound to figure out how horrible he was eventually, might as well be now.

Angry and stressed Sans stood up and started pacing refusing to look at Blueberry who would hopefully take the hint and leave him alone. Tomorrow he would seriously start looking for a way back to his own universe, the place he belonged with the rest of the horrible mean vicious monsters that lived there.

But unfortunately, Blueberry didn’t seem to be done making him feel like garbage yet. “It’s okay Edge, I don’t hate you. I could never hate you,” he said also standing up and placing a hand on Sans’ shoulder.

But Sans ignored him this time and didn’t stop. He wasn’t in the mood to be soothed and refused to even look in his direction. Blueberry _should_ hate him after what he’d just revealed, surely he was lying about not doing so. There was no way someone as nice as Blueberry would want to be friends with a violent killer like himself. So why was Blueberry torturing him by claiming otherwise?

“You said it was self-defense, that means you didn’t want to kill them. And you say you don’t regret it, but you obviously realize that killing is wrong otherwise you wouldn’t be so upset about it now. So please just calm down and relax.”

“How can you and me be the same fucking person?” Sans asked still refusing to look at Blueberry. “You’re the nicest fucking person I know and I’m well… I’m me.”

“Yeah, you’re super cool and you’re nice when you want to be.” Blueberry was probably smiling at him like he always did, but Sans still refused to look. “And you’re my friend. Even if you’ve made some mistakes in the past I still believe in you and know you can do better, even if you don’t think so.”

“I’m not… I can’t… You don’t fucking understand. Almost the entire fucking time I’ve been here I’ve been trying to impress you to make you like me. In truth I’m fucking pathetic worthless garbage, especially in comparison to you.” Sans dug his claws into another tree wishing Blueberry would just hate him already.

Ever since he got here Blueberry had been nothing but nice to him even when he’d been rude or almost violent. If their situations had been reversed and Blueberry had somehow ended up in Sans’ universe, Sans probably wouldn’t have been bothered to even try to figure out how Blueberry had gotten there. And he probably wouldn’t have cared when Blueberry inevitably got dusted by somebody either. But Blueberry had decided they were friends right from the very beginning even though he didn’t deserve it.

“That’s not true…” Blueberry started to say.

“Yeah it is. I’m so fucking pathetic I let my bro beat the shit outta me every time I do something he doesn’t like.” Sans had already revealed other painful truths, so why not that one too?

“Wait, what…?” Blueberry sounded shocked, horrified even.

“That’s what started this whole stupid fucking conversion. You wanted to know why I’m scared of my fucking brother, that’s why. Yeah sure he lets me off with a warning sometimes, when he’s in a good mood or busy but he likes to punish me, sometimes for stuff that isn’t even my really my fault. And I’m too fucking pathetic and lazy to try to stop him.”

Of course when Sans didn’t listen to that warning his punishment would be worse than it otherwise would’ve been. And he’d gone above and beyond not listening to the last warning his brother had given him. Thinking about that made him feel sick as he started pacing faster. When he returned his brother would most likely kill him and there was nothing he could do about it.

“B-but why? He’s your brother, why would he want to hurt you?” Blueberry asked.

“Because I’m weak, lazy, and stupid. And like a true fucking moron I talk back to him almost all the fucking time. In fact, if I did everything he told me to do without complaint he’d probably ignore me most of the time. So really I have no but myself to blame for how he treats me.”

“That’s not true, you’re not weak or stupid. I guess you are kind of lazy, but that’s not really that bad a thing. So please don’t talk about yourself like that,” Blueberry said voice full of sadness. “Please Edge, please calm down. I don’t hate you, and if your brother really is that mean to you then you don’t have to go back to him. You can stay here with me.”

There was no way Sans could ever respond that. He couldn’t stay here; he didn’t belong here. He was too mean and vicious to ever belong here. How could Blueberry not see that? Why would Blueberry even want him to stay?

Starting to feel like he might puke Sans increased his pacing speed. All of this was too much, Blueberry was being too nice to him even though he’d just proven he didn’t deserve it. And being reminded of his brother and thinking of his inevitable punishment when he returned home certainly didn’t help.

Everything was piling up on him and he couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to get _out._ He needed leave, he needed to get away. Away from Blueberry’s undeserved kindness, away from thoughts of his abusive brother and shitty world. It didn’t matter where he went so long as it wasn’t here.

As he started to gather magic so that he could teleport somewhere else Blueberry suddenly stepped in front of him taking hold of both of his hands, forcing him to stop pacing. But he was already teleporting and Blueberry’s sudden contact with him caused him to be dragged along as well. As soon as the teleport was over though he was completely drained, similar to how he’d felt after teleporting to Blueberry’s universe. Meaning he’d probably done it again, only this time he’d dragged poor Blueberry along with him.

“Sorry Blue, I fucked up,” he said as he started to collapse from exhaustion. His last thought before the world faded to black was that hopefully it wasn’t his world or any universe similar to it.


	14. New Universe

Blueberry had teleported with Papyrus on numerous occasions and with Edge a few times too. It had never been pleasant being uprooted and placed in a completely different spot and sometimes position. But this was something entirely different. There were several long seconds of crushing blackness before they were deposited wherever it was that Edge teleported them to. It left Blueberry feeling more than a little nauseous and more disoriented than usual.

“Sorry Blue, I fucked up,” Edge said as he started to collapse pulling Blueberry back to his senses.

“Edge! You okay?” Blueberry asked forgetting his discomfort in his sudden concern for Edge as he just barely managed to catch him before he hit the ground.

He then gently propped Edge up against a tree to get a better look at him. He looked okay but he was clearly unconscious, with his eye sockets closed and his body limp. Blueberry tried to wake him up to make sure he was okay but got no response.

Why had Edge fainted after teleporting? Papyrus had never done that. And why had the teleport felt so different? Was it because he’d teleported a very long way? But looking around it seemed to be the exact same spot, except the rut in the snow where Edge had just been pacing was gone. And so were the claw marks he’d left on the trees. Maybe Edge had accidentally teleported them to another universe. If he’d done it once it made sense that he could do it again.

Under almost any other circumstance Blueberry would’ve been excited at that thought but his worry for Edge outweighed any excitement he would otherwise be feeling.

What if Edge had hurt himself somehow? Or worse, what if he’d used too much magic and was falling down? But he’d teleported through universes before and been fine. But he’d been alone that time. What if bringing Blueberry with him had been too much for him?

Blueberry felt a small stab of panic at the thought. He had to get Edge some help as soon as possible. Hopefully this world’s Undyne would be as friendly and willing to help as the one he knew.

But what if they were in Edge’s universe? From what little Blueberry knew about it, it wasn’t a very friendly place. And from what he’d just learned about Edge’s brother, Blueberry didn’t fancy meeting him any time soon.

The fact that anyone, especially a version of Papyrus of all people could be that mean was mind boggling. And the fact that he did it to his own brother was incomprehensible. Blueberry had always believed that everybody could be a good person if they just tried, but he also knew that sometimes some people didn’t want to try. The fact that Edge’s bro seemed to be one of those people made Blueberry feel ill. Poor Edge didn’t deserve that.

But he didn’t have time to worry about any of that right now, he had to get Edge some help. So taking a metaphorical deep breath he scooped Edge up into this arms. Luckily being a skeleton Edge wasn’t very heavy, even though them being the exact same size did make him a bit awkward to carry. But Blueberry was going to be in the Royal Guard one day, he could handle it.

Walking towards Snowdin with Edge in his arms, Blueberry became convinced that they were indeed in another universe. Everything _looked_ the same but nothing felt the same. It was an odd feeling since he’d walked down this path so many times and now it suddenly felt like he’d never been on it before despite how familiar it was.

When he arrived on the outskirts of Snowdin he had a moment of indecision. He could try to take Edge all the way to Undyne’s lab or he could hope that they weren’t in Edge’s universe and take him to this world’s version of them and Papyrus. He chose the latter option since they were much closer anyway. Chances of them being in Edge’s world were low, right? And if they were… well Blueberry would figure that out when they got there.

It was the middle of the day so there were several monsters milling about the place, they gave him a few odd looks but didn’t approach. It wasn’t long before he reached this world’s version of his house. It looked almost exactly like his own but again it didn’t feel the same. With equal amounts of trepidation and excitement Blueberry shifted his hold on Edge so that he could ring the doorbell.

After a few minutes passed he got no reply. What if no one was home? It was the middle of the day after all. But at this time he knew his own brother would probably be home, since he almost always left work early. So Blueberry rang the bell again, longer this time.

“All right, all right, I’m coming,” a voice said from inside. It was muffled by the door so Blueberry couldn’t tell who it was.

But he didn’t have wait long before he got his answer. The door opened revealing someone who looked almost exactly like him in every way except for his clothes. This version of him wore a blue jacket over a gray t-shirt with shorts and pink fuzzy slippers.

“Hi, I’m Sans, I’m you from another universe.” Blueberry greeted him with a smile.

“Uh… what?” The other Sans understandably looked confused.

“I’m you from an alternate universe. You see Edge here, he’s another version of us from another universe different from my own, he can teleport to other universes (which is how he ended up in mine) and well he accidentally brought us here. And like he passed out and I’m afraid he might be hurt or something. Can you please help us?”

“Okay… but uh how exactly does he teleport to other universes?”

“I’m not sure, he was kind of… freaking out a little. I was trying to calm him down when he just sort of teleported and we ended up here. I don’t think he really meant to do it.” Blueberry had to admit though that he was at least glad that he’d accidentally tagged along with Edge. If Edge had gone off by himself again there was a very real possibility that he wouldn’t have returned. That would’ve been sad, he liked Edge a lot and wanted him to be happy. “But please can you help us, I’m worried that he might’ve hurt himself by using too much magic.”

“Uh okay I guess, just let me call Alphys real quick,” Sans said as he stepped back allowing Blueberry to enter.

Much like the outside the inside looked similar to Blueberry’s home. There were a few differences like the colours were different but for the most part everything was the same. There was still the couch and the T.V. and the stairs and kitchen were in the same spots.

Still worried about Edge, Blueberry gently lay him down on the couch. He was still out cold with no sign of waking up. Hopefully he was just exhausted and would wake up in a few hours.

“Whoa, what’s with the teeth and claws?” Sans asked looking down at him.

“That’s just how he is.” Blueberry had never really given Edge’s teeth and claws much thought before. Thinking about it though it had to be because his world was more violent. He’d even implied that he’d used his claws on other monsters before.

“Whatever I guess,” Sans said with a nonchalant shrug. “I’ll call Alphys, I’m sure she’ll be glad to take a look at him.”

Blueberry wondered what Alphys could possibly do to help. But whatever, this Sans probably knew what he was doing. If he thought Alphys could help somehow then she probably could.

As Sans went to the phone in the kitchen to call Alphys, Blueberry pulled of one glove off to check Edge’s temperature. He didn’t feel like he was running a fever or was too cold or anything, so that was probably a good sign.

While closing examining his face Blueberry noticed Edge had a scar where he skull had been cracked running from the top of his eye socket all the way to the back of his head. It looked like it must have hurt and Blueberry wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed it before. It was faint but now that he knew it was there he'd never be able to un-see it. He wondered if Edge had gotten that from his brother or perhaps some other monster who’d been trying to kill him.

And the gold tooth too, what was the deal with that? Surely it had to take a really hard hit to knock a tooth out. Again was that Edge’s brother or someone or something else who had done that?

Blueberry sighed as he stroked Edge’s face again. Hopefully he would be okay. Not just from this but also mentally and emotionally too. He’d clearly been through a lot, otherwise he wouldn’t be so stressed and nervous about so many things.

“Hey, you okay?” This world’s Sans asked as he returned from the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m just worried about him,” Blueberry admitted with another sigh as he put his glove back on.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, he’s us after all,” Sans said as he slumped on the end of the couch Edge wasn’t taking up. “I called Alphys, she’s on her way. She should be able to fix him if there is anything wrong with him.”

“Thanks a ton for helping us. I really appreciate it, and I’m sure Edge will appreciate it too when he wakes up.”

“Heh, don’t worry about it,” Sans said with another shrug.

It suddenly dawned on Blueberry that this Sans was a lot like Papyrus, laid back and lazy. He wondered what this world’s Papyrus was like. He’d probably find out since it didn’t look like Edge would be waking up to take him home any time soon.

“So… Sans, ya know anything more else about his ability to teleport to other universes?” This world Sans’ asked.

“Um no not really. This is only the second time he’s done it and I’m pretty sure both times were on accident. Oh and by the way you can call me ‘Blueberry’, it’s what Edge calls me.” Blueberry had to admit that he was rather fond of that nickname.

“That’s _berry_ interesting,” Sans said with a grin. Yep he was certainly like Papyrus all right, and Edge except not stressed out. “Ya think he’ll be able to get ya back home?”

“Yeah, I think so. He’s super smart, I’m sure he can figure it out.” Blueberry hadn’t even paused to consider whether or not Edge could get them back home. But he believed Edge could.

Before either of them could say anything else Alphys suddenly came through the front door. “I uh came as fast I c-could Sans, who’s uh hurt?” she asked.

It was shocking to hear her of all people stutter and sound unsure of themselves. She also wore a lab coat instead of armor and lacked her usual proud stance.

“He is,” Sans replied pointing to Edge, not seeming to think anything was off about Alphys’ behaviour.

“Hey uh Sans, is it just me or do they both uh k-kinda look a lot like you?” Alphys asked. “Are they uh like your c-cousins or something?”

“No, they’re me from two different universes.”

“What?! Really? I mean they do look like you but uh they can’t _really_ be from uh other universes, can they?” Alphys said giving Blueberry a strange sense of déjà vu.

“Yeah, all three of us are the same person from different universes,” Blueberry said. Despite his continued worry for Edge he still found that idea cool and exciting. And they were all different too, which made it even more exciting.

“Oh but uh how did you guys get here then?”

“Edge teleported us on accident,” Blueberry said.

“But you don’t just uh… teleport to another universe. That would uh take a _lot_ of magic,” Alphys said.

“It did, that’s why I’m worried about him. Yeah sure he was fine the first time he did it, but this time he brought me along and I’m worried he might have accidentally pushed himself too far because of it. So can you please look him over and make sure he’s okay?”

“Oh y-yeah of course,” Alphys said as she moved over and began examining Edge. “But uh like shouldn’t it be impossible to teleport to another universe like that? S-sans didn’t you say once that you could only teleport to places you’ve uh been to before? And they’ve uh clearly never been here before. So uh how did they do it?”

“I dunno.” Sans shrugged. “Apparently it’s just something Edge there can do. We’ll have to ask him when he wakes up.”


	15. Undertale

“H-he’s mostly okay,” Alphys declared after she’d thoroughly examined Edge. “He used pretty much all his magic though which can be uh dangerous. B-but he should probably be uh fully recovered in a few days, a week at most.”

“So looks like you two might be stuck here for a little while then,” Sans said.

Blueberry didn’t really mind being stuck here all that much. It didn’t matter as long as Edge was going to be okay. Ever since he’d met Edge he’d wanted to visit another universe anyway. Of course it’d be better if his brother were here too, he would surely be worried about them while they were gone. But Edge would be able to get them back home once he’d recovered.

“That’s not a super big deal,” Blueberry said. “Is it okay if me and him stay here until he’s recovered?”

“Yeah, that should be fine,” Sans replied.

“I’ll just uh see myself out then, call me if you need anything else,” Alphys said before slipping back out the front door.

“So other me, what’s your version of Papyrus like?” Blueberry asked turning back to Sans.

“Oh you’ll probably meet him here shortly, he should be back from sentry duty soon,” Sans replied with a lazy shrug.

“Other me are you in the Royal Guard? Edge says he is in his universe and I’m going to be one day. But what about you?”

“Nah, Paps wants to be though. I personally couldn’t care less about joining the Guard,” Sans replied. “But are you sure you’re me? You seem to have an awful lot of energy.”

“Yeah, Edge said once that everyone from his universe has swapped personalities from the people in my universe. I think that might be the case here too. Like your Alphys kind of reminds me of Undyne, and you kind of remind of my brother. Speaking of that, I hope he’s okay. He should be fine on his own, but he’ll probably be worried about me and Edge. And I don’t doubt for a second that he’s going make a huge mess in the house that I’m going to have to clean up when I get back.”

“Yep, you’re definitely more like Papyrus than me.”

And as if speaking about him summoned him the front door suddenly opened again revealing a very familiar face. He dressed completely different to Blueberry’s brother. Instead of an orange hoodie this Papyrus wore armor and a red scarf. He also lacked the slouch Blueberry was used to seeing.

“Oh wowie Sans, why are there suddenly two of you?” he asked.

“Actually there are three of me,” Sans said pointing to Edge on the couch.

“Yeah, Edge can teleport to other universes somehow and he accidentally brought me here but then he passed out. But it’s okay because Alphys said he’s going to be better in a few days,” Blueberry said excited to meet another version of his brother. “Anyway I’m Sans, but I guess that’s already obvious. You can call me ‘Blueberry’ though.”

“I’m Papyrus, but I guess that’s also already obvious since you presumably have a brother who is also named ‘Papyrus’. But another universe, I didn’t even think anything like that was possible.”

“I didn’t think anything like that was possible either not until Edge showed up on my doorstep a couple weeks ago. But isn’t it cool? There are other versions of us in other universes that are all _super_ different. Even though I imagine some are probably similar.”

“Wow that is cool. So what’s your universe like? Is it super different? If so in what ways is it different? And what’s your version of me like? Is he as cool as I am? Has he joined the Royal Guard yet? Have you guys captured a human yet?”

That sparked a long winded conversion about both of their universes and everything that was different between them. It turned out that everything _was_ swapped in this world, like Edge’s apparently was except not violent.

Eventually the conversation moved to the kitchen as Blueberry helped Papyrus make lunch. It turned out that Papyrus had a liking for spaghetti similar to Blueberry’s love for tacos. Blueberry was excited to learn how to cook something new and would maybe be able to impress his brother and Alphys with a new recipe when he got back.

While they talked Blueberry noticed that Sans fell asleep on the couch, much like how his brother would do sometimes. It was weird seeing someone who looked exactly like him act so lazy, much like it was weird to see someone who looked exactly like his brother being so full of energy. He’d gotten used to Edge being lazy but this Sans was lazier than Edge, but that was probably because Edge would sometimes be filled with nervous energy.

He also made sure to check on Edge every so often to make sure he was okay. He never so much as moved, not even in the slightest.

How would Edge react to all this when he woke up? Probably not very well. And how would he react to this world’s Papyrus? If he was instinctively afraid of Paps then he’d probably feel the same about this Papyrus too. Maybe Blueberry should warn Sans and Papyrus about that possibility. Or he could just hope that it would turn out for the best. Edge seemed to like him a lot and this Papyrus so far seemed a lot like him so maybe Edge wouldn’t be as bothered by him.

Once lunch was ready to be served Blueberry wondered if he should try to wake Edge up to eat with them. But after a few small attempts he concluded it was probably best to just let him sleep for now. He could eat when he woke up on his own.

After eating lunch Papyrus said he needed to go to Undyne’s place to train. She was Commander of the Royal Guard here and apparently her relationship to Papyrus was similar to Blueberry’s was to Alphys in his world. He offered to let Blueberry come with him, but Blueberry had had to decline. As much as he wanted to meet Undyne and see this new world he needed to be close by when Edge woke up.

So instead he ended up watching T.V. with Sans. He sat down on a chair they’d moved next to the couch. Sans had offered to move and let him sit on the couch instead but Blueberry was fine in the chair, even if it wasn’t the most comfortable chair in the Underground. Of course they could’ve also moved Edge upstairs to sleep in one the rooms, but Blueberry wanted to be there when he woke up in case he started freaking out again.

The show on T.V. was similar to Blooky’s from back home but featured a robot by the name of Mettaton instead and had less of a focus on music. Mettaton even looked like Blooky except had theme of red going instead of blue. It was still entertaining though. Blueberry wondered what Blooky was like in this world, probably like Mettaton in his world but he’d never known anyone by that name from his world.

“So uh why is it so important that you be there when he wakes up?” Sans asked him.

“Well before he teleported us here he was kind of stressing about some things like a lot. I’m worried that when he wakes up he’ll start stressing again, and he doesn’t really handle stress super well. So I need to be there to calm him down if that is the case.”

Blueberry’s attempts to calm Edge down had always worked, except not this time for some reason. Why was that? It was probably because he’d allowed the conversation to go on too long. He should’ve changed the subject when Edge had started getting mad like every other they’d started talking about stuff that stressed him out. But Blueberry had wanted to know more and had wanted to make Edge feel better, but sadly he seemed to have only made him feel worse instead.

“What was he stressing about?” Sans asked.

“Oh we were talking about stuff that he didn’t really want to talk about and my attempts at calming him down only seemed to make him feel worse for some reason. But I can’t really tell you too much about it since it’s kind of personal.”

Blueberry didn’t even fully understand what Edge’s problem was. Yeah he’d obviously been stressing about his brother but he also seemed have been stressed over Blueberry’s assurances that they were still friends. It almost seemed like he had wanted Blueberry to hate him for some reason. Why would he ever want that?

It was strange because Blueberry was pretty sure Edge liked him a lot. So why would he suddenly not want Blueberry to be his friend anymore?

Blueberry had been shocked and saddened when he’d learned that Edge had apparently killed before, but he knew Edge could do better and would. He’d said it was self-defense, and from what little else Blueberry knew about his universe that made sense. He’d had an idea that Edge’s world was violent from when Edge had assumed that that dog guards would want to eat them. But he hadn’t tried to hurt a single monster the entire time he’d been living in Blueberry’s universe, so he clearly wasn’t as bad as he thought he was. And Blueberry was going to show him that.

Slipping off his gloves Blueberry reached over and pulled one of Edge’s clawed hands closer. He’d always been fascinated by Edge’s claws and had wanted to take a closer look at them for a while now. But Edge probably wouldn’t appreciate something like that so he hadn’t tried anything until now when he obviously couldn’t object and might not ever even know.

They were sharp and dangerous looking. If Edge really wanted to he could seriously hurt someone with them. But Blueberry knew he’d not do anything like that without a good cause. But they could do a real number on trees that was for sure.

The first time Blueberry had seen Edge dig his claws into a tree he’d wondered if it had hurt. But based off how often Edge did it, it had to feel good. Maybe it helped him relieve stress a little, not that it actually seemed to do much in that regard.

Blueberry spent the next few hours watching T.V. and messing with Edge’s hand. They’d never held hands when Blueberry wasn’t wearing gloves so this was kind of the first time they were touching for real. He wondered how Edge would react if he woke up when they were still like this. But he didn’t get to find out as Papyrus came home and it was time for supper.

He again tried to wake Edge up to eat with them. But even though he’d tried harder this time he still got no response. That made sense, he had used all his magic after all, that had to be exhausting. But it was still a bit worrying.

During supper (spaghetti again) Blueberry renewed his energetic conversation with Papyrus. They had a _lot_ in common and Blueberry found it fascinating.

Everything about this world was fascinating and he couldn’t wait to explore it with Edge. He wondered if Edge would agree to occasionally take him to see other worlds that were super different and exciting. Hopefully he would and they could bring Paps along too next time. Then they could all have fun exciting adventures in other universes and make friends with all kinds of other versions of themselves.

After dinner they had to sort out sleeping arrangements. Blueberry of course needed to be close by when Edge woke up so he ended up deciding a sleeping bag in the living room would be fine. It would be like a sleepover, except at a different version of his house.

“You seem to care about him a lot,” Sans said before heading up to read Papyrus a bedtime story, much like how Paps would often read to Blueberry.

“Yeah I do,” Blueberry replied. “I’ve only known him for like almost two weeks, but I’ve grown to care about him a lot in that time. And well he doesn’t talk about it much but I think he’s had a pretty rough life until he accidentally ended up in my world. And… I just want him to be happy for once. But I’m afraid he thinks he doesn’t deserve to be happy.”

“Really? What makes you say that?” Sans asked.

“The way he was talking before he teleported us here. And I think he might’ve been trying to teleport away from me.” Blueberry had offered him the opportunity to stay and that had seemed to be the last straw.

“Oh, I hope you two can work everything out when he wakes up.”

“I hope so too.”


	16. Waking Up

As Edge woke up he again knew something was wrong. Sitting up he looked around, it seemed to be in the middle of the night and he was sleeping on the couch like normal. But it didn’t feel right, it didn’t feel like his home or Blueberry’s home.

Oh that’s right, he’d done it again. He’d accidentally teleported to yet another universe. Only this time he’d dragged Blueberry along as well. At least considering his location and the fact that he was still alive, they weren’t in any universe similar to his own.

But still he’d fucked up _really_ bad. If they had ended up in his universe Blueberry would’ve been dusted for sure. The thought of Blueberry dying because of a mistake he’d made was sickening to say the very least.

But even though they were in a safe universe Blueberry must _hate_ him for this. He’d dragged him away from his home into some unknown universe that could’ve been dangerous. Not to mention all that shit Blueberry now knew about him. But regardless of how Blueberry now no doubt felt about him, Edge had to find a way to get him back home.

But what if he _couldn’t_ get Blueberry home? It’d be entirely his fault if Blueberry ended up being trapped here, never to see his brother and all his friends again. Ruining his own life was one thing but he couldn’t bear to do the same to Blueberry.

With a groan he stood up to start pacing and maybe think on how he was going to get Blueberry home. But he paused when he saw Blueberry curled up in a sleeping bag nearby. Even in his sleep he looked happy. It brought to mind just how much Edge had potentially fucked up his life.

He wondered if he should wake Blueberry up to ask him about how they’d got here. But he couldn’t bear to face him right now when he was no doubt extremely unhappy about Edge dragging him so far away from home.

He started pacing between the living room and kitchen instead, trying to work off some of the stress that was starting to build. He was still tired and probably could’ve gone back to sleep if his thoughts hadn’t gotten him so worked up. But he had to find a way to fix his mistake and get Blueberry back home, nothing else mattered.

Both times when he’d teleported to another world he’d been trying to teleport _away_ but not to any actual destination. That had to have something to do with it. And both times he’d been freaking out really hard core. Hopefully that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be able to do it when he was calm. But even if that was the case it didn’t take much to get him super stressed out these days.

But even knowing how he’d probably teleported to other universes he still wasn’t sure if he could pick and choose which one he went to. And what if he _couldn’t_? Chances of him randomly ending up in Blueberry’s universe again were low.

Fuck why’d he have to go and do this? Of all the ways he could’ve ruined his friendship with the first person who’d ever liked him, why’d it have to be like this? Blueberry would’ve been a thousand times better off if Edge had never shown up on his doorstep.

Edge was just starting to sink into the deepest depths of self-loathing when he was suddenly interrupted by a loud, “You’re awake!” Looking over he saw Blueberry had woken up and had crawled out of his sleeping bag.

“You’re awake,” he said again quieter this time as he ran over and hugged Edge.

Edge froze as his mind suddenly went blank. He’d never been hugged before so he no idea how he was supposed to respond. Also why was Blueberry hugging him when he should’ve been mad or at least upset?

Luckily the hug only lasted a few seconds before Blueberry pulled away. “I was so worried when you fainted and I thought you might’ve hurt yourself somehow. Alphys said you were going to be okay but I was still worried because you didn’t get up when I tried wake you for supper. And you were asleep for _so_ long but I’m glad you’re okay. You are okay, right? You’re not feeling sick or anything?”

“Yeah, I’m uh… okay I think.” Edge was shocked at Blueberry’s concern for him. “But aren’t you mad at me?”

“No of course not. Why would I be mad at you?”

“Because of this.” Edge gestured to the world around them. “I know we’re not in your universe anymore, it doesn’t feel the same.”

“So? It’s exciting seeing another universe. This world’s version of us and Papyrus are super cool and different. They’re letting us stay here until you’re recovered enough to take us back home.”

“You are aware that I might not be _able_ to take you back home, right?”

“Well you’ve teleported to another universe twice now right? So you should be able to figure out how you did it. And then you could just do it again to bring us back home. But of course only do that once you’re fully recovered, Alphys said you used all your magic getting us here so it might be dangerous to try again so soon.”

“But what if I can’t _choose_ which universe I go to? And what if I end up teleporting us to a world that isn’t friendly and you end up getting injured or worse because of me?” Thinking about that possibility made Edge wish there was something thereby that he could sink his claws into.

“That’s not going to happen. I have you to protect me and I’ve been getting pretty good at using the Gaster Blasters too. Also I’ve been training to join the Royal Guard for a while now so even if we do end up in a dangerous universe I should be able to take care of myself. And I’m sure you can find a way to teleport back to my universe. Paps said that when he teleports he has to think of where he’s teleporting to otherwise it doesn’t work. So when you’re doing whatever it is that makes you teleport to another universe think about my world too and it should work. And if it doesn’t I’m sure you can figure something else out.”

Blueberry’s idea might work. Edge would have to try it when he wasn’t still feeling the effects of his last teleport. But if it didn’t work Blueberry would probably never see his home again. And neither would Edge, but that didn’t matter as much.

“But what if I _can’t_?” he said unable to get his mind off of what would happen if he really couldn’t. He’d never be able to forgive himself if that was case.

“I’m sure you can do it. You’re super smart and stuff. I know you’ll do everything in your power to get us back home again.” Blueberry was of course smiling, seemingly unafraid of the potential consequences if Edge actually couldn’t get him back home.

Unable to contain his nervous energy Edge started pacing again. “How can you be so fucking confident? We know next to nothing about this power or why I have it. There is a very real possibility that I _won’t_ be able to get you back home,” he said.

“Hey Edge, it’s okay I promise,” Blueberry said placing a comforting hand on his arm stopping his pacing before it could even go very far. “All you can do is try. Just try to think positive, don’t let it stress you too much.”

“But what if it _doesn’t_ work?” Edge was starting to feel exhausted again, he wasn’t sure how long it would be before he fell asleep again no matter if he wanted to or not.

“If it doesn’t work then… well we’ll figure something else out. But I’m sure you can do it, so try not to think about it too much until you’re ready to try. We’re in a safe world we can enjoy ourselves until you’re recovered enough to take us back home.”

“But… all right I guess… I’ll try.” Edge sighed giving up on his stress for now, he was too tired for it anyway.

“That’s the spirit. I know you can get us home; I just know it.”

Edge couldn’t hold back a small smile at Blueberry’s infectious enthusiasm. It was almost midnight, how he could have so much energy? And despite this late night conversation he’d probably have just as much energy tomorrow too.

“Hey Blueberry, can I ask you something?” Edge said rubbing tiredly at one of his eye sockets as he fought the urge to fall asleep right then and there.

“Yeah sure what is it?”

“Even after everything I told you, about how I’m a… killer and despite the fact that you might never see your home again because of me, you still really wanna be my friend?” Edge dreaded the answer the answer but needed to know for sure.

“Yes of course I still want to be your friend,” Blueberry said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And you’re not a killer, and you’re definitely going to get us home again, so don’t worry about any of that.”

“I uh… thanks.” Edge’s tired mind had trouble processing how good that made him feel, even if he didn’t deserve or understand it. Part of him still couldn’t even believe it, like this was just some weird dream and he’d wake up to Blueberry hating him.

“Anytime friend,” Blueberry said with a smile as he hugged Edge again.

This time Edge was more prepared for the hug and despite a continued awkwardness was able to return it. It was kind of… nice, maybe. It at least wasn’t as awful as he would’ve thought.

But between his tiredness and Blueberry’s comforting warmth against him he found it impossible to fight off the pull of sleep any longer.

 

***

It wasn’t until Blueberry pulled away from the hug that he realized Edge had become relaxed because he’d fallen asleep even though they were still standing and hugging at that. He’d hoped the reason for Edge losing his tenseness was because of the hug itself, but sadly that wasn’t the case.

“Oh my gosh Edge did you really just fall asleep while we were hugging?” he said. When he got no response he knew it must be true.

He’d seen Edge sleep in all sorts of weird positions. The weirdest one being when he fell asleep standing up not even leaning against anything like he did every other time he’d slept on his feet. So Blueberry really shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but he was. He had to admit though that it was kind of sweet that Edge was comfortable enough in his arms to fall asleep hugging him.

“Okay, I guess it’s time to go back to bed then,” Blueberry said.

But of course Edge didn’t respond as he stood there limply with his head lolling to one side, his fanged mouth open slightly as he blissfully slept on. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep, unlike his usual guarded facial expression. How he could sleep standing up Blueberry would never understand, but it was kind of cute.

Blueberry wrapped his arms around Edge again, using that hold to lift him he carried him back to the couch. After laying him on it Blueberry tucked him in with the blanket this world’s Sans and Papyrus had lent them. Not surprisingly Edge slept through the whole process much like he had that first night he’d shown up on Blueberry’s doorstep.

Before returning to his borrowed sleeping bag however Blueberry leaned over and gave Edge a goodnight kiss on the forehead. Edge no doubt wouldn’t have appreciated something like that if he were awake, but he wasn’t so he couldn’t complain.

“Goodnight Edge,” Blueberry softly whispered to him before leaving.

He was glad Edge seemed a bit better and was willing to accept his friendship. He just hoped that when Edge got them home that he’d stay too. Blueberry couldn’t bear the thought of him going back to his abusive brother and wanted Edge to stay with him.


	17. Meeting the Undertale Bros

Edge woke up slowly like he always did in the mornings when no one was yelling at him to get up. He again took a moment to remember what he’d accidentally done yesterday, and his midnight conversation with Blueberry last night. Shit, he’d fallen asleep while they’d been hugging, embarrassing to say the least. But hopefully Blueberry wouldn’t say anything about it.

Looking over towards the sounds he’d heard coming from the kitchen he saw Blueberry preparing breakfast like he always did. But he wasn’t alone this time, this new world’s Papyrus was helping too. He wore armor that unfortunately resembled the armor Edge’s brother wore, it was white instead of black but other than that the design was almost the same. He also wore a red scarf, it was longer and less torn up but still reminiscent of the scarf Edge’s brother often wore. But at least from the brief glimpse Edge got of his face he didn’t have sharp teeth and probably lacked the claws too. So he wasn’t an exact copy of Edge’s brother but was still too close for comfort.

As a result, Edge didn’t fancy meeting him and was already dreading it since there was no way he could avoid it. So closing his eyes again he decided that he was going to pretend to sleep for as long as he could.

But alas it was only a few minutes before Blueberry bounded over to him. “Come on Edge, wake up breakfast is almost ready,” he said.

With a resigned sigh Edge sat up. He had to hold back a groan as he saw Papyrus had also approached him with the clear intent to have a conversation.

“Good morning Edge, how are you feeling?” he asked with a cheery grin.

“Uh… okay… I guess,” Edge forced himself to say while trying not to let himself tense up too much.

“That’s good. I am Papyrus, even though I guess you probably already knew that since you’re an alternate version of my brother. But regardless it’s nice to finally meet you. I was a bit worried last night when you slept for so long, but I’m glad to see you’re okay now. You are okay, right? You’re not feeling sick of anything are you?”

What the fuck was even going on here? Edge had thought Blueberry’s brother was weird. But this was a whole new level of weird.

“I’m fine,” Edge said crossly, crossing his arms but unable to maintain eye contact. He wished there was something nearby that he could dig his claws into.

“Oh well if you’re sure, I’m going to wake my own brother up for breakfast,” Papyrus said before finally leaving.

“You okay Edge?” Blueberry asked worriedly.

“No, he looks even more like my brother than yours does, and he’s just plain… _weird_.”

“Oh, I was kind of hoping that you’d like him. He’s actually a lot like me and you seem to like me a lot so I was thinking you might like him too. But I guess not, huh?”

Edge sighed unable to comprehend how someone who looked so much like his brother could be like Blueberry in any way, shape or form.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Papyrus returned with his brother in tow. This Sans wore a blue jacket and looked like he was still half asleep, meaning he was probably more similar to Edge than Blueberry.

“Hey you’re finally awake,” he said looking in Edge’s direction while Blueberry and Papyrus continued to the kitchen.

“Yeah.” Edge shrugged wishing he could find a convenient excuse to leave. He didn’t want to deal with Papyrus’ strangeness right now or ever really. But there was nowhere he could go and desperately needed food anyway.

“So how’d ya do it?” Sans asked. “Teleport here I mean.”

“I was trying to teleport away without having an actual destination in mind. I don’t know _why_ that would bring me to another universe but apparently it does.”

“That’s… interesting,” Sans replied. “Ya think you’ll be able to do again?”

“I’ve done it twice now so I don’t see why not.”

Of course that didn’t mean he’d be able to get back to Blueberry’s universe. And if he couldn’t it’d be his fault Blueberry would never seeing his home again. Blueberry would surely hate him then, right? He’d definitely deserve Blueberry’s hatred, that’s for sure.

“So why were you teleporting without a destination anyway? That’s kinda dangerous, don’t ya think?” Sans asked thankfully interrupting Edge’s thought process before it could go too far.

“I was just… trying to get away.” Edge shrugged looking down at the floor.

“Why’d ya want to get away so bad?”

“I just did,” Edge said crossing his arms, refusing to talk about it. The last thing he needed was this world’s Sans and Papyrus knowing any of the shit related to why he’d been trying to get away.

Luckily before Sans could question him further Blueberry and Papyrus called from the kitchen that breakfast was done.

While everyone else sat at the table Edge took his usual spot on the couch to eat. Sans and Papyrus gave him an odd look at that but he didn’t care. Blueberry seemed a tad disappointed but didn’t say anything so Edge didn’t feel too bad about it. There was just no way he could sit so close to someone who resembled his brother so much.

As they ate Blueberry and Papyrus talked about all sorts of things. Normally Edge didn’t mind Blueberry’s chatter (he actually quite enjoyed it sometimes) and didn’t really mind it here either. But with Papyrus it was an entirely different story. His own brother would often talk (and yell) a lot, often complaining about this and that, or scolding Edge for something. Or he’d go on and on about how great he was and how Edge should consider himself lucky to be related to him. But this Papyrus’ chatter was more like Blueberry’s: lighthearted and friendly. Edge couldn’t wrap his mind around it and it made him feel… odd. But he did his best to ignore it. It was fine as long as Papyrus didn’t try to talk to him.

But sadly that was not to be the case. “So Edge Blueberry’s told me all about his universe but now I want to what yours is like,” Papyrus said smiling at him. It was odd seeing him smile, his brother had never smiled in a friendly way and Blueberry’s bro was a bit reserved and didn’t smile that wide.

“It’s different.” Edge shrugged not wanting to have this conversation.

“That doesn’t tell me anything. How is it different? Does everyone dress like you? Are the houses and buildings and stuff the same?”

Edge felt a chill go down his spine at just how similar this conversation was to the conversation he’d had with Blueberry that first morning he’d been there. Blueberry was right, this Papyrus really was similar to him. But it certainly didn’t make Edge more inclined to like him, it was just too… weird. He liked Blueberry a lot, but seeing someone with a very similar personality to him who looked like someone Edge had only ever associated with insults and pain was too confusing and weird for him to ever feel comfortable with.

“Also what’s your version of me like? Does he also have sharp teeth and claws like you do? Has he joined the Royal Guard yet?” Papyrus continued oblivious to Edge’s rising discomfort.

“I don’t think my brother or my universe is any of your _fucking_ business,” Edge said with a growl. But he immediately froze as he realized his mistake, growling at his brother had only ever brought him pain (not that that stopped him from doing so a lot of the time). Yeah sure this wasn’t technically his brother but was still a version of him, so growling at him might not be a very good idea either.

But it was already too late to do anything about it. So he’d just have to suck it up and deal with however this Papyrus’ anger would manifest to hurt him. This was a friendly world so he probably wouldn’t be hurt too terribly bad.

Expecting pain, he was more than a little surprised when Papyrus gave him a confused look instead. He didn’t look angry or offended, just confused. As if he’s never had anyone speak to him like that before and wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Why are you angry? Did I say something that offended you? If so I humbly apologize, I assure you no offense was meant.” Papyrus didn’t even have a single trace of annoyance in his voice.

It was unsettling and Edge had no idea how to respond to it. _He’d_ been the one being offensive and should be apologizing. So why was Papyrus apologizing to him? It didn’t make any fucking sense.

He needed this conversation to end right now before he said something that would make Sans and Papyrus want to kick him out. Angering them when they’d agreed to put up with him and Blueberry staying there for however long wasn’t a good idea. If he were by himself it wouldn’t have mattered, but Blueberry was here too.

“Hey uh… sorry about that,” Blueberry said loudly saving Edge from having to answer. “He gets stressed out sometimes, like now. Being in another universe and stuff is pretty stressful, you know. So don’t take anything he says to heart, he doesn’t mean to be rude most of the time. Anyway let’s uh talk about something else. Like your puzzles, tell me how they work again.”

Edge let out a sigh of relief as the conversation at last turned away from him. He could’ve hugged Blueberry for changing the subject like that. He’d have to try to be a little less angry in his future encounters with Papyrus so as not to make Blueberry look bad. Not that he’d had any real success in controlling his anger in the past.

Looking up he saw that Sans was still looking at him, studying him. He didn’t look thrilled and had definitely disapproved of how Edge had spoken to Papyrus. But as soon as he saw Edge looking back at him he turned away.

After breakfast was over it was time for this world’s Sans and Papyrus to head to sentry duty. That at least seemed to be a consistent thing across all universes. Blueberry decided to join them which meant Edge had to come along too. He didn’t fancy being alone with his thoughts and wasn’t sure leaving Blueberry’s side would be a very good idea anyway.

As they walked there, Blueberry took his hand, not with any intent to lead him anywhere, but just to hold hands. If it were any other monster Edge would’ve objected to it. But for whatever reason he found the contact to be comforting.

But when they reached Papyrus’ puzzles Blueberry let go so that Papyrus could show off how his ‘amazing’ puzzles worked. Edge wasn’t interested in seeing them, even from just a glance he could already tell they were at least as simple as Blueberry’s were if not more so.

“So is there a reason my bro makes you nervous?” Sans asked him casually leaning back against a tree once Papyrus and Blueberry were out of earshot.

“He doesn’t make me nervous,” Edge lied. He wasn’t really surprised that Sans had picked up on that, but that didn’t mean he had to admit to it.

“I’m guessing it has something to do with your brother, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Edge said with a slight growl.

“I’m gonna go ahead and pretend you didn’t just growl at me. You got all angry when my bro started asking you questions about your universe and stuff. But at the same time you looked like you were convinced that he was gonna hit ya or something. So what is about your bro that makes you afraid of mine?”

“I’m not afraid of him,” Edge said dragging his claws down the face of a nearby tree.

“Are you always this angry? Or is it just because you’re just stressed out about stuff?”

“I’m not angry, so just leave me the fuck alone.” Edge growled again as he clawed the tree once more.

“All right fine, but here’s the deal Edgy Mc My Chemical Romance, I don’t care if you are like this because you’re stressed out or whatever. If you ever even try to hurt my brother you’re gonna have a bad time.” Sans’ eye lights briefly disappeared making his eye sockets look like bottomless pits.

“And why the fuck would I ever try to hurt him? If he’s anything like my brother he’s bigger and stronger than me and could easily beat the shit outta me.” Edge started angrily pacing. He could just walk away and try to calm down, but he’d never been very good at doing that and dismissed the thought as soon as it occurred. He’d just wait for Blueberry to come back.

“Is that what your brother does to you that makes you afraid of him? ‘Beat the shit outta you’?” Sans asked the anger disappearing from his voice to be replaced by shock.

Apparently Edge was the only one with a shitty brother. Everyone else’s brothers were too nice to ever hurt anybody. Because like everything else in his life he always got the short end of the stick.

“What my brother does to me is none of your _fucking_ business.” Edge growled menacingly as he stepped towards Sans intending to shove him, but Sans easily avoided it by stepping to the side. Edge quickly backpedaled thinking Sans would try to attack him but nothing happened, Sans just looked at him.

This world, much like Blueberry’s, wasn’t as violent as his was but still. Even if he hadn’t actually been trying to attack, Sans’ should’ve attacked him just in case. Of course he wouldn’t attack unless Sans did, but Sans didn’t know that.

Edge dug his claws into another tree as he glared at Sans, waiting for him to say something or to attack after all. But Sans just looked at him, clearly thinking about something.

Once it became obvious their conversation was over Edge started pacing again.

Luckily it was only a couple minutes before Blueberry and Papyrus returned. Seeing that he was upset Blueberry quickly moved to his side placing a comforting hand on his arm stopping him from pacing.

“What’s wrong Edge?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Edge lied. He felt better now that Blueberry was here.

“We were talking about his brother,” Sans said.

“Oh, um… him and his bro don’t really… get along super well. It’s kind of a sore subject for him and I probably should’ve mentioned it to you guys yesterday,” Blueberry said continuing to touch Edge’s arm, soothing him.

“I figured as much,” Sans replied.

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m sure if you just…” Papyrus began before Blueberry cut him off.

“Look it’s not anything you guys really need to worry about, okay? So like please don’t talk about it, it uh stresses him out… a lot.”

“Yeah sure we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. But I do hope you can fix whatever happened between you and your brother so you can be friends again,” Papyrus said. That was of course never going to happen but Papyrus didn’t need to know that.

Edge felt immensely grateful for Blueberry’s presence. And if wasn’t for the other two he might’ve told him. He wasn’t even really sure why Blueberry would be such a comfort but he was.

“Anyway Edge you wanna go explore with me? See if anything’s different in this world,” Blueberry said.

“Uh… sure I guess,” Edge replied a bit surprised that Blueberry didn’t want to spend the day with Sans and Papyrus.

“Okay, we’ll see you two later then,” Blueberry called to them before taking Edge’s hand again and leading the way back towards Snowdin.


	18. Grillby's

“I thought you’d want to spend the day with them,” Edge said once Sans and Papyrus were out of earshot.

“I would, but I know how Papyrus makes you feel. And I can understand why he makes you feel that way, so I don’t blame you,” Blueberry replied giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

“You can hang out with them if you want, I don’t care. I was planning on taking a nap somewhere anyway.”

“But I want to hang out with you,” Blueberry said as if that made total sense.

“Why would you want to hang out with me over them? You and… Papyrus seemed have really hit it off based off how much you two were talking this morning. And I’m not exactly very good company.” Edge didn’t understand why anyone would choose to hang out with him when there were clearly better options. If this Papyrus really was a lot like Blueberry, and so far it seemed he was, why wouldn’t Blueberry want to hang out with him instead? They obviously had a lot more in common than Blueberry did with Edge.

“Because you’re my friend. They’re my friends now too, but they have each other. If I didn’t hang out with you, you’d be all alone. And I don’t think that’d be good for you.”

“I still don’t even understand _why_ you want to be my friend.” He’d probably never understand it either.

“But why _wouldn’t_ I want to be your friend?”

“Because of everything I told you yesterday that I shouldn’t have but I was too busy freaking out to stop myself. You now know all about how fucking pathetic and horrible I am. Why would you want to be friends knowing that? And also not to mention you might never see your home again because of me. Face Blueberry I’m a real awful person to be friends with.” Edge huffed as he tore his hand away from Blueberry’s, crossing his arms as they stopped at the edge of the forest. Why did Blueberry want to be his friend? It didn’t make sense, not after everything that had happened.

Instead of saying some bullshit about how he wasn’t an awful friend like Edge had expected, Blueberry took his arm and pulled him around so that they were facing each other, then hugged him. Edge was shocked, he hadn’t expected that. They had hugged last night twice, but he’d been half asleep for that second one, he still wasn’t accustomed to it and wasn’t sure what to do.

But after a couple seconds went by and Blueberry still held him he felt obligated to return the hug. He still wasn’t sure about it, but it was nice. After several seconds he even started to relax a little.

“There you feel better now?” Blueberry asked as he pulled away a short time later.

“Yeah, I uh guess so,” Edge admitted surprised that it was true. Why a hug would make him feel better he didn’t know, but it had.

“Good, now I want you to listen to me.” Blueberry looked and sounded the most serious Edge had ever seen him. “You’re my friend and I care about you. I don’t care about what you’ve done in the past or about how you accidentally brought us here, I care about _you_.”

What!? That went far beyond anything he’d been expecting. Blueberry liking him and wanting to be his friend for whatever reason was one thing, but _caring_ for him was something else entirely. Nobody he’d ever known had cared about him before. He wasn’t even really worth caring about, especially not by someone like Blueberry.

Suddenly on the verge of another anxiety attack Edge tried to take a step back so that he could start pacing, a vain attempt to escape his feelings. But Blueberry stopped him by taking hold of his hands, interlacing their fingers together. It wasn’t a tight hold; he could’ve escaped it if he really tried.

“Please just calm down, okay?” Blueberry said. “It’ll be all right I promise. I don’t really understand why you’re reacting the way are, or why you seem to want me to hate you no matter how many times I tell you that I don’t. But it really makes me sad that whatever it is that you’ve gone through has made you like this, you deserve better. So please try to relax.”

“Y-you really care about me?” Edge asked holding himself as far away from Blueberry as he could while Blueberry maintained his grip on his hands. “Like you’re not just saying that to try to make me feel better or something?”

“Yes, I really care about you. And I just want you to be happy.”

“But _why_?”

“Because I do, and no matter what happens I always will. So can you please do me a favor and try to care about yourself too?”

“What?!”

Care about himself? The very notion was preposterous.

“Please, for me? I don’t understand why you don’t seem to like yourself very much, always saying your pathetic and stuff, and I don’t think I could ever understand that either. But it’s not true, whatever reasons you have for hating yourself, they’re not true.”

“But I…” Edge began intending to reiterate all the reasons why Blueberry shouldn’t even like, let alone care for him, but was cut off when Blueberry let go of his hands to pull him into another hug.

“Please Edge please, we don’t have to talk about it anymore if you don’t want to, but can you at least _try_ to like yourself a little more.”

After a short pause Edge sighed as he wrapped his arms around Blueberry again, enjoying the feel of him in his arms. “I guess,” he said.

Why did Blueberry even care about his low self-esteem? It didn’t affect him any, so why should it matter?

But he’d just have to come to terms with the fact that he’d never understand Blueberry, they were too different. Blueberry was going to like and care for him no matter how much he didn’t deserve it. There was nothing he could do about that, except maybe try to be a little more deserving of it.

And he had to admit hugging Blueberry was nice, he was warm and comforting. Being this close to any other monster would’ve stressed him out to no end. So he wasn’t really sure why being this way with Blueberry was so nice and didn’t really care enough to think much on it.

“You feel better now?” Blueberry asked when they at last pulled apart.

“Yeah, so uh thanks, I guess.”

“See hugs make everything better,” Blueberry said smiling at him. It was just like him to go back to being super excited and happy even after such a heavy conversation.

Edge found it comforting to know he could always count on Blueberry to be like that.

“Now why don’t we go back to walking around Snowdin and see if anything’s different?” Blueberry said cheerfully taking his hand again and leading the way.

 

They spent the next few hours walking around Snowdin and venturing in Waterfall and Hotlands a bit. It was similar to Edge’s world, the main difference being that it wasn’t violent and had a similar relaxed atmosphere to Blueberry’s world. If this was the nice version of his world was there perhaps an evil version of Blueberry’s world? He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know that answer to that question.

In the middle of Snowdin there was another one of those strange holiday trees with the odd coloured baubles hanging off its branches and wrapped presents underneath. So even this universe had that weird Santa person supposedly handing out gifts for no reason.

But something this world had in common with his own and not Blueberry’s was Grillby’s bar. The best part was Blueberry even agreed to have lunch with him there.

Inside it looked almost exactly like the Grillby’s at his home except it was cleaner and less run down. Grillby stood at the bar doing his usual thing, except in this world he was orange instead of purple. But no matter it was still Grillby.

“Hey Grillby, s’up?”  Edge greeted him as he and Blueberry sat on stools at the bar.

In his world Grillby wasn’t nice to him (or anyone else really) but did tolerate his existence without the hate filled glares most people would shoot him for one reason or another. And he made good food so Edge had spent a lot time in his bar, much to Papyrus’ annoyance which had never led to good things for Edge. But he’d learned to keep his visits there a secret and had taken great pleasure in fooling Papyrus like that, even though he still got caught occasionally.

“Sans?” Grillby asked with an understandably confused expression on his face.

“Oh, we’re from different universes,” Blueberry cheerfully explained. “You see Edge here can teleport to other worlds somehow and he brought me along this time. You can call me ‘Blueberry’ by the way. But now that I think about it I don’t think I’ve ever actually met the Grillby in my world, I wonder what he’s like.”

“Uh… okay I guess. What will you two be having then?”

After ordering it was only a few minutes before their food came. Edge happily drenched his burger in mustard earning himself a slightly disgusted look from Blueberry. He didn’t care though; it’d been entirely too long since he’d been able to eat like this.

“So when do you think you’ll be able to take us home?” Blueberry asked.

“Tomorrow, hopefully,” Edge said. He’d rather try right now, but it would probably be dangerous to try so soon after the last time. He hadn’t completely recovered from it yet.

“Are you sure? Maybe you should wait a couple more days, just in case.”

“I don’t know. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.”

The sooner they could leave the better. He needed to know if he really had any chance of getting Blueberry back home. If his power didn’t work that way he’d have to figure something else out. Even though the chances of anything else working were low to say the least. If he couldn’t get Blueberry home by teleporting it was probably never going to happen, and it’d be entirely his fault.

“Well just make sure you don’t hurt yourself. And remember it’s perfectly fine if you want to take a couple days to make sure,” Blueberry assured him. “Paps is probably worried about us but he’ll be fine, he can wait a few days.”

Shit, Edge had forgotten all about Blueberry’s brother. He was going to be _pissed_ if and when Edge returned. But he had a right to mad and would be well within his rights to punish Edge for this.

But even if he did get Blueberry home what would he do afterward? There was no way he could stay in Blueberry’s world. Partly because there was no way Papyrus would let him after this misadventure, and partly because he still wouldn’t belong.

“Also Edge,” Blueberry said placing a hand on his arm. “It’s not your fault, so don’t blame yourself for this, okay?”

“What do you mean ‘it’s not my fault’? It clearly fucking is my fault, I’m the one who teleported us here. And it’ll be my fault if you never see your home again.” Edge barely managed to suppress the urge to claw the bar.

“You teleported us here on accident, you didn’t mean to. And don’t be so negative, you’ll be able get us home.” Blueberry smiled at him.

“You don’t know that.”

“I guess I don’t know that for sure, but I prefer to believe you’ll be able to get us home,” Blueberry said. “Anyway did you figure out how you did it yet?”

“Yeah I think so, both times I was trying to teleport away without a real destination. I wasn’t really thinking about anything other than not being where I was.”

“Oh, were you uh… trying to teleport away from me?” Blueberry sounded almost kind of… hurt by that thought.

“I… uh yeah, I guess I kinda was.” Edge admitted. If he hadn’t freaked out the way he had all of this never would’ve happened. “But I just… and you were…” he trailed off, unable to tell Blueberry he’d been too nice to him when he hadn’t (and still didn’t) deserve it. There was no way someone like Blueberry would ever be able to understand something like that. And it would’ve sounded kind of stupid to say out loud anyway.

“It’s okay Edge,” Blueberry said smiling and rubbing his arm again. “I don’t know why you were trying to get away from but it’s okay. Anyway why don’t we go meet Undyne. Papyrus says she a lot like Alphys which is really weird to think about. But I guess that must have been how you felt when you first came to my world. But apparently she’s still into anime, but really both of them are in my world and this world too, so that’s not different. But still it should be fun to meet her.”

“What’s anime?” Edge had never heard the term before, probably something from the Surface if he had to guess.

“They’re Japanese cartoons from the Surface. They get really weird sometimes with giant swords and weird tentacle beasts. Ooh, I know when we get back home the next time Undyne and Alphys have an anime night you should watch some with us, I bet you’ll like it.”

“Uh sure I guess.” He’d probably not get an opportunity to follow up on that invitation since Blueberry’s brother would probably want him gone as soon as possible.

“Anyway if we’re both done eating let’s go see Undyne. She probably lives in the same place Alphys does, right?” Blueberry said before grabbing Edge’s hand and dragging him out the door.


	19. Undyne's Place

On the way to Undyne’s place Blueberry cheerfully told Edge everything that Papyrus had said about her. She was Commander of the Royal Guard and Papyrus was training with her both to join the Guard and to cook better, exactly how Blueberry trained with Alphys in his world. Traveling to other universes was weird.

Upon approaching Undyne’s house however Edge started regretting his decision to come here. Undyne and Papyrus were in the training yard out front, it looked like they were getting ready to spar. Given the time he should’ve expected this, Blueberry was always with Alphys at this time so it made sense that Papyrus would be with Undyne.

Unfortunately, before he could come up with a convenient excuse to leave Undyne and Papyrus spotted them. He had to hold back a groan as they approached.

“Hey you guys must be the other Sans-es Papyrus was telling me about,” Undyne said upon reaching them.

“Yeah, you can call me ‘Blueberry’ though and his nickname is ‘Edge’.” Blueberry greeted her with a smile.

“See Undyne I told you it was true,” Papyrus said. “Isn’t it cool? They’re my brother from other universes.”

“It’s interesting that’s for sure. You guys as lazy as Sans is?”

“Edge is pretty lazy but I’m not. You see everyone in this world has their personality swapped with someone else. In my universe you’re the Royal Scientist and Alphys is Commander of the Guard,” Blueberry explained cheerfully.

Luckily none of them seemed to noticed Edge’s annoyance. He felt in need of a nap, he hadn’t taken a nap that morning like he usually did and was starting to feel the effects of it. And he wasn’t in the mood for any of this, especially Papyrus who was looking far more happy and excited than he had any right to be.

“Wow, Alphys Commander of the Guard, your world must be real weird,” Undyne said.

“Yeah, you’re world’s really weird to me. But it’s also super exciting, everyone looks almost the same but they all act different,” Blueberry said. “And instead of a Muffet’s you have a Grillby’s, his food isn’t as good as Muffet’s is but it’s okay I guess.”

Edge stopped paying attention to their conversation. He moved a short distance away, leaning up against a nearby wall intending to take a nap. Hopefully all three of them would be too wrapped up in their conversation to notice he was sleeping.

But sadly he’d barely had time to close his eyes before he was interrupted by of course none other than Papyrus. “Hey Edge, how are you feeling?” he asked. “You seemed really out of sorts this morning, and I was wondering if you’re feeling better now.”

“I’m fine.” Edge shrugged trying to look casual despite how tense he suddenly was. He didn’t want to talk about this morning and didn’t want to talk to Papyrus at all.

Why did Papyrus even feel the need to talk to him? Why couldn’t he just keep talking with Blueberry and Undyne instead? They seemed to be having a lively conversation over there, Blueberry probably telling her all about his world. Why couldn’t Papyrus go join them?

“Wow, you’re certainly a lot more like my brother than Blueberry is. Only you seem more… stressed out I guess. You’re like a grumpy version of him. How come your nickname’s ‘Edge’ anyway?”

“I’m _edgy_ ,” he said. There was no way he’d pass up an opportunity to make a pun even if it might possibly upset Papyrus.

“Yep, you are certainly a lot like Sans, with your bad puns and stuff,” Papyrus said clearly annoyed by but not on the same level as Edge’s brother would’ve been, which was a blessing. “How come you gave Blueberry his nickname?”

“I don’t know, he just kinda looks like a blueberry I guess.” Edge was starting to feel uneasy, Papyrus was being far too friendly. That wasn’t really surprising but felt odd nonetheless. But it would probably be fine as long as they didn’t talk about any sensitive subjects. Hopefully it would end soon anyway so he didn’t have to put up with it for very long.

“So what’s it like being able to travel to other universes?”

“Uh… I don’t know, it’s interesting I guess.”

Glancing over Edge saw that Blueberry was still in an animated conversation with Undyne. It didn’t seem like he’d be coming to save Edge anytime soon. Meaning he’d just have to deal with this.

“How do you do it anyway?” Papyrus asked obviously still unaware of how uncomfortable he was making Edge.

“I just teleport without a destination.”

Even if Edge had wanted to escape he couldn’t. His back was up against the wall and Papyrus stood squarely in front of him. He could maybe duck to the side, but could still easily be caught.

“That’s interesting, do you think maybe Sans could do it too?”

“I don’t know, maybe. You’d have to ask him.”

Of course he wouldn’t actually _need_ to escape, Papyrus wouldn’t hurt him, probably. But he still wanted to have a way out in case the pressure became too much for him.

“So when are you planning on going back?” Papyrus asked.

“I don’t know, soon.” Edge wanted to start pacing but couldn’t as long as Papyrus was watching him.

Then as if a gift from the heavens Blueberry suddenly returned with Undyne. “Hey Edge, what’s happening over here?” he asked.

“Nothing really,” Edge said feeling relieved. He moved closer to Blueberry hoping he’d touch his arm the way he had earlier that morning. Blueberry did exactly that, soothing Edge way more than it should’ve. Why was Blueberry touching him so comforting?

“You guys doing okay over here? No uh… problems?” Blueberry asked.

“We were just having a pleasant conversation about his ability to travel to other universes. It’s really interesting and I hope I can see another universe one day,” Papyrus said.

“Oh that’s good to hear,” Blueberry said with a smile. “Anyway Edge you want to show them your Gaster Blasters? I’d show them mine but yours are much cooler and you’re a lot better at it than I am.”

“I uh… guess I could.” Edge couldn’t pass up an opportunity to impress Blueberry again, even though he really should be trying to save his magic for when he tried to teleport back to Blueberry’s world.

“You guys'll like this, it’s really cool,” Blueberry said to Papyrus and Undyne as they all moved to the training yard.

Edge stepped up to stand across from the wooden training dummy.  It looked exactly like the one that had been in Alphys’ yard except older since Alphys had had to replace hers when Edge destroyed it. Now Undyne would probably need to get a new one too.

Deciding he needed to conserve his magic at least a little bit he only summoned six Blasters. Not as impressive as ten but still enough to obliterate the training dummy and leave a small crater. It was also still enough to impress everyone watching.

“Wow, that was awesome! You really showed that dummy whose boss,” Undyne said as she walked over to inspect the crater.

Blueberry gave him a small round of applause and smiled sweetly at him.

“Wow Edge, that was cool,” Papyrus said enthusiastically. “Where’d you learn to do that? And do think you could teach me too? Blueberry said earlier that you taught him. He didn’t show me at the time because he said they were exhausting but he said you were really good at them and that you taught him how to do it. So do you think you could teach me too?”

“What!?” Surprised Edge took a step back. There was no way he could ever teach Papyrus how to summon the Blasters.

“Well maybe you can’t teach me because it might be only a Sans thing. But the rest of my magic is similar to my brother’s so maybe I might be able to learn it too. It can’t hurt to try at any rate. So will you teach me how do to?”

“I think maybe we should try to teach him Edge, it could be fun,” Blueberry said as he walked over to stand next to Edge.

“But I…” Edge started to protest before Blueberry took his arm and pull him a few steps away.

“Also I think maybe it might help you get over your fear of him,” he whispered.

“I’m not…” Edge began but was cut off by Blueberry again.

“It’s okay if you don’t want too, I’m sure he’ll understand. But I think if you just tried you guys could be friends. And then when we get back home you could be friends with Paps too.”

Blueberry’s brother would never want to be friends after all this, how could Blueberry not know that? But that wasn’t important right now. It would take a few hours at least to teach Papyrus, that was entirely too long to spend in his presence. Not to mention all the inevitable interacting they’d have to do. What if he got angry and said something stupid that made Papyrus mad?

“Please Edge, all I’m asking you to do is try. If it gets to be too much we could always go back to the house. I’ve meaning to try to get you to become friends with Paps for a while now. And I was actually planning on trying to talk to you about that the other day before… you know, all that stuff happened and you teleported us here. So will you just _try_ to be Papyrus’ friend, for me?” Blueberry gave him a sweet smile, the kind of smile that was hard to say ‘no’ to.

“Fine whatever I guess.” Edge sighed. He didn’t want to do it but Blueberry was right, he needed to at least try to get over it.

“Yippee.” Blueberry gave him a brief hug that he didn’t even have time to react to before he was being pulled back to where Papyrus and Undyne were waiting for them.

“So are you going to teach how to summon the Blasters?” Papyrus asked him with an expectant grin on his face.

“Yeah, I guess.” Edge sighed wishing he could still find a way out, but he’d already told Blueberry he’d do it so he had to.

“Wowie, thank you. When do we start?”

“Now’s a good a time as any I suppose.”

The sooner they go this over with the sooner he could take a much deserved nap.

“Oh this I have to see,” Undyne said.

 

Teaching Papyrus how to summon the Blasters was almost exactly like teaching Blueberry had been. It took a bit longer for Papyrus to summon one, but not by much.

Blueberry thankfully stayed close by. He practiced using his own Blasters and sparred with Undyne a little but occasionally made sure Edge and Papyrus were doing all right.

But by the time Papyrus finally managed to successfully summon one Edge was more than a little emotionally drained. The only thing keeping him from falling asleep right then and there was his stress about how Papyrus would react to that.

“Look guys I finally did it,” Papyrus said, his eye glowing orange as he proudly pointed to his newly summoned Blaster. It looked different from Edge’s and Blueberry’s, it was smaller and had a shorter muzzle. But resembled Blueberry’s more with its rounded edges and friendlier looking appearance. “Now how do I fire it?”

With a tired sigh Edge summoned his own Blaster and demonstrated. Unfortunately, after all this he might not be able to take Blueberry back home tomorrow. Assuming that was even possible in the first place.

The sound Papyrus’ Blaster made when it fired was different, more high pitched but not quite as loud as Edge’s or even Blueberry’s were. Papyrus was of course only able to sustain it for a second or two before he had to let it fade.

“Hey Paps ya finally did it,” Undyne said giving Papyrus a slight punch on the arm.

“Yay, you did it,” Blueberry said clapping for him.

“Oh wow, I did do it,” Papyrus said excitedly despite his eye lights dimming from exhaustion.

“Good for you. I’m gonna go take a nap now,” Edge said before taking Blueberry’s hand and teleporting them back to the house. He teleported them so that they’d be sitting on the couch next to each other.

Contrary to what he’d expected Sans was nowhere to be seen. Probably for the best considering the conversation they’d had earlier that morning.

“I’m so proud of you Edge, I knew you two could be friends if you tried.” Blueberry smiled at him. “Now we get home you’ll just have to make an effort to be friends with Paps too.”

Too tired to explain why Blueberry’s bro would never want to be friends with him, Edge just hummed agreement as he leaned against Blueberry and fell asleep.


	20. Friends

When Edge woke some time later he was still leaning against Blueberry. Blueberry had taken off his gloves and was holding one of Edge’s hands in both of his, watching T.V. as he absentmindedly messed with Edge’s claws. What was he doing? And more to the point why was he doing it?

Not sure how to react Edge quickly snatched his hand away. “Uh… hi Blueberry,” he said awkwardly holding his hand close to his chest as he sat up.

“Oh hi Edge, it’s good to see you’re awake again.” Blueberry smiled at him as if nothing strange had just happened.

“Okay so… what were you doing with my hand?”

“Oh I was just looking at it. Your claws are cool.”

“Oh.” Edge lifted one hand in front of his face flexing it slightly. He’d never thought much about his claws. To him they were always just another weapon in case his magic failed or he was too weak to use any. He’d never once thought there might be anything abnormal about them until he saw that Blueberry and his brother lacked them, same with his sharp teeth.

Without giving the action much thought he reached over and pulled one of Blueberry’s hands closer. He hadn’t put his gloves back on yet and this was the first time Edge had seen them uncovered. He had to admit he’d been kind of curious about what Blueberry’s hands looked like for a while now.

His hand not surprisingly was about the same size as Edge’s, but that was where the similarities ended. His fingers were flat and rounded at the end. They were slightly thinner and longer too.

Blueberry stayed quiet while Edge studied his hand. As a result, it took Edge a few seconds before he realized he was the one being weird now.

“Uh… sorry,” he said awkwardly as he released Blueberry’s hand.

“It’s fine.” Blueberry smiled at him. “So how are you feeling?”

“Less tired I guess.” Edge shrugged deciding to follow Blueberry’s lead and ignore what had just happened.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to take us home tomorrow?”

“I… uh, yeah, or at least I hope so. Unless of course it’s impossible.”

The thought that he might not be able to bring Blueberry home was still stressful. It’d be entirely his fault if Blueberry never got back home. And to make matters worse even if that did happen Blueberry would still no doubt want to be his friend.

“Well I don’t want you to hurt yourself,” Blueberry said. “And since you seemed so tired earlier I think maybe you should wait for at least one more day. Just to make sure, you know.”

“Nah, I’m always sleepy, you know that. Besides the sooner I get ya back the less your brother’s gonna be pissed at me, or at least hopefully anyway.”

“Paps isn’t going to be mad at you. He’s probably worried about you too and will be glad to see that you’re safe.”

“I doubt that.” Edge couldn’t see any way that Blueberry’s bro wouldn’t be mad. It just didn’t make sense. “He’s probably figured out that I’ve dragged you off to another universe by now. I could’ve easily gotten you killed, and there’s still the possibility that I won’t be able to get you home. And your brother probably knows that, so he has every right to be mad at me.”

“It was an accident though, so I don’t think he’ll be mad. Besides nothing bad happened, we just went on a little adventure to another universe. And I’m sure you’ll be able to get us home, so don’t worry about it, okay?”

How could Edge _not_ worry about it? And how could Blueberry be so confident that Edge would be able to get him home? And why did Blueberry think his brother wouldn’t be mad? Somebody had to mad at Edge about this, Blueberry certainly wasn’t (even though he should be) but Papyrus most definitely would be.

“When you get us home tomorrow or the next day or whenever you decide to do it, you’ll see that everything’s going to turn out just fine,” Blueberry said. “So don’t stress about it okay? Let’s watch some T.V. instead. They have a robot name Mettaton instead of Napstablook. He’s a lot like Blooky but also kind of different.”

Blueberry went on to explain more about Mettaton. Edge already knew some of it based off what little he knew about the Mettaton in his own world. This Mettaton was a non-violent, non-vulgar version of that one. But listening to Blueberry ramble on was better than thinking his own thoughts.

Not even ten minutes later Sans suddenly teleported into the living room in front of them. Great, just what Edge needed, the guy he’d almost had a fight with who was probably still mad at him. But at least Blueberry was here so maybe it wouldn’t turn out to terribly bad.

“Hi other me. How as your day today?” Blueberry cheerily greeted him as he sat on the other side of the couch.

“It was okay, I guess.” Sans shrugged. “So uh, what have you two been up to? You do anything interesting?”

“We walked all around Snowdin and explored a lot of the Underground in general. It was all the same as my world but also different, it was cool though. And then we went to a place called Grillby’s for lunch, which was where Muffet’s normally is. I guess Grillby and Muffet are swapped. After that we went to Undyne’s place and Papyrus was there and Edge taught him how to summon the Gaster Blasters. And then Edge brought us back here so that he could take a nap on me,” Blueberry said.

“Oh so you taught Paps how to summon the Blasters? That’s interesting.” Sans said sounding as if he were feigning surprise. As if he already knew about that somehow. Meaning either Papyrus told him or he’d been watching. Probably the latter since he’d have no reason to pretend he didn’t know if it were otherwise.

Annoyed Edge almost called Sans out on it. But that would’ve only heightened the tension between them and that was the last thing they needed. Besides it didn’t really matter all that much anyway. Sans had probably only been watching out for his bro because Edge certainly hadn’t proven himself to be trustworthy in the short time they’ve known each other.

“Yeah.” Edge shrugged, he could pretend like he didn’t know about Sans’ lie.

“Can I ask why? I thought you didn’t like him?”

“Blueberry asked me to, wanted me to try to be friends with him.”

“Yeah,” Blueberry said. “You see I know he can be friends with Papyrus if he just tries. And I think it worked too, Edge didn’t have any anxiety attacks the whole time they were training.”

“That’s… good I guess. You tell him about Gaster too?” Sans asked.

“Actually now that I think about it, I don’t think we did,” Blueberry said. “I guess we should probably fix that next time we see him. Anyway, what was your Gaster like? Edge doesn’t want to talk about his and I can’t remember mine.”

“He was really smart, even though he could be a bit show offish sometimes. He was cool though. But why don’t you remember yours?” Sans said.

“I guess I wasn’t around when he fell into the Core or whatever. My bro remembers him though and says he cool. And Edge says that in his world he helped Gaster build the Core.”

“Wow, really? Unless your world is different from mine you must’ve still been in the school at time,” Sans said.

“I finished school early.” Edge shrugged, he didn’t want to talk about Gaster.

Luckily before anyone could question him further the front door opened and in walked Papyrus. “Hi Sans-es,” he greeted them loudly causing Edge to jump. He still looked tired from earlier but that apparently wasn’t going to stop him from being loud.

“Hey bro,” Sans greeted him.

“Sans you’re never going to guess what Edge taught me how to do,” Papyrus said.

“I’m sure I can guess, but why don’t you go ahead and tell me about it anyway?”

Papyrus launched into a passionate explanation about his training session with Edge earlier. It reminded Edge of when Blueberry would excitedly explain stuff to his brother or to Edge, and how they would both listen to him even if they already knew about whatever he was explaining. Blueberry and Papyrus really were very similar.

Afterward Papyrus and Blueberry decided they’d go make dinner together, Blueberry promising to teach Papyrus how to make tacos.

But before following Papyrus into the kitchen, Blueberry gave Edge another brief hug that again he didn’t even had time to react to before it was over. “I’ll be right in the kitchen if you need anything,” he said.

Edge sighed, staring after him. Maybe one day he would get used to Blueberry randomly hugging him.

He was now in the room alone with Sans. The last time they were alone Edge had almost potentially ended their welcome here. And without Blueberry there to lighten the mood it quickly became awkward.

They sat in in an awkward silence for several minutes, the only sounds the T.V. and Blueberry and Papyrus’ conversation in the background.

“Um… sorry about earlier,” Edge mumbled. Having Sans be actively mad at him would make in it awkward for him and Blueberry for however long they ended up staying here. And he really was ashamed of how he’d acted.

The oddest thing about that was that he’d never felt that way before, no matter what dumb thing he’d said or done. Maybe Blueberry’s good nature was starting to rub off on him a little.

“It’s… fine… I hadn’t realized your brother was such a sore subject for you,” Sans said. “But uh… just so you know, Paps would never hurt you. He doesn’t have a mean _bone_ in his body.”

“I know, it’s just… weird, that’s all.” Edge shrugged, he couldn’t wait to be done with this world. Hopefully he really would be able to take Blueberry home if not tomorrow than sometime in the next few days. With his luck though he was probably going to fail and put them in an even worse position.

“So what’s the story with you and Blueberry?” Sans asked.

“What do you mean? I showed up on his doorstep one day and for whatever reason he decided we were friends.”

“Are you sure you’re just friends? You seem to be doing a whole lot of hand holding and hugging for being just friends.”

“Well… I uh…” Edge had no idea how much physical contact was normal between friends, he’d never had one before after all. But Blueberry did seem to touch him a lot, he enjoyed it though so he never questioned it. “What else would we be?”

“I don’t know.” Sans shrugged. “I’m not judging you, I just think’s it’s a little weird, that’s all.”

Thankfully Blueberry and Papyrus choose that moment to announce that dinner was ready, saving Edge from having to come up with an answer.

As they ate dinner Blueberry sat on the couch with Edge. He still talked with Papyrus but from a distance. Edge appreciated it, it meant Blueberry didn’t want him to be alone.

Afterwards they all sat on the couch to watch T.V. together. They had to sit close together but it wasn’t too terribly bad. Papyrus and Edge sat on the far ends of the couch with Sans and Blueberry between them. It was only about an hour or so before Edge ended up falling asleep again.


	21. Underfell

Blueberry and Edge were in the forest outside Snowdin, not far from the sentry station guarding the Ruins. Edge couldn’t remember how they’d gotten there but it wasn’t important.

“Do think it worked Edge? Do you really think we’re back home?” Blueberry asked.

“I don’t know.” Edge shrugged. Surely Blueberry should be able to feel if this were his home or not. But Edge didn’t have much experience with stuff like this, so maybe not.

But there was only one way to find out. Taking Blueberry’s hand Edge started walking towards Snowdin.

After walking for several minutes they both froze as a tall figure stepped out from behind a tree. The all too familiar figure of Papyrus, his black and red armor standing out against the surrounding snow. Edge had fucked up and they’d somehow ended up in his world. And now it was too late to do anything about it.

“Well if it isn’t my good for nothing brother, finally come back to beg for forgiveness I hope,” Papyrus said, an evil glint in his eye.

“Go fuck yourself Papyrus,” Edge growled pulling Blueberry behind him. He could worry about how they got here later for now he had to make sure Blueberry wouldn’t get hurt.

“You’re… Edge’s brother?” Blueberry asked nervously.

“Yes, unfortunately I am related to this sack of shit,” Papyrus said voice full of disdain.

“Why don’t you just shut the fuck up and leave?” Edge growled again, taking a step forward. He couldn’t back down against Papyrus without putting Blueberry at risk.

In reply Papyrus shot out a bone attack that missed Edge’s skull by mere centimeters. He even felt the wind of its passage as it disturbed the fur in his coat’s hood. It took all his willpower not to flinch away from it.

“I told you I’d punish you if I found you slacking off again. And not only have you slacked off you’ve gone and disappeared for several weeks and returned with some weird clone of yourself. I guess that means I’m just going to have to punish the both of you.”

“There’s no need for that,” Blueberry said from behind Edge.

“Don’t you dare even try to touch him,” Edge growled as threateningly as he could despite the fact that he never felt very threatening when trying to go up against Papyrus. But protecting Blueberry was more important than his fear for his own safety.

As Papyrus stepped forward Edge did his best not to flinch as Papyrus grabbed him by the neck, lifting him several feet off the ground. “Are you really trying to protect him when he’s clearly even more worthless than you are?” Papyrus said scornfully. “Even though I guess you do kind of owe him since it’s your fault he’s here in the first place.”

“F-fuck you.” Edge grabbed ineffectively at Papyrus’ wrist trying to loosen his vice like grip. If he weren’t a skeleton he’d be asphyxiating. As it was Papyrus could still easily snap his neck, killing him.

“Run Blueberry,” Edge said summoning a Blaster. Hopefully he could delay Papyrus long enough for Blueberry to get away.

“No,” Blueberry said. “I’m not going to run away while he tries to hurt you. There are two of us and only one of him, we can take him.”

“You’re going to regret your foolhardy bravery,” Papyrus said summoning another bone attack and firing it at Blueberry before Edge had time to react.

Edge couldn’t see but from the cry of pain Blueberry made, he knew it had hit. How bad was he hurt though? What if he was dying?

“You fucking bastard,” Edge growled struggling in vain against the grip on his neck.

Other than the cry of pain Blueberry wasn’t making any other sounds. That had to mean he was hurt bad.

Edge fired his Blaster directly in Papyrus’ face causing him to flinch back losing his grip on Edge’s neck. Not bothering to see how bad he might’ve hurt Papyrus Edge quickly turned around rush to where Blueberry lay on the ground.

Papyrus’ attack had pierced through his ribcage causing substantial damage and was now lodged in his spine. It had just barely missed his soul, so at least he wasn’t dead… yet.

“Y-you okay?” Trembling Edge placed a hand on the magical bone protruding from Blueberry’s chest, thinking about pulling it out. But that wouldn’t really help now, would it?

“I’m… I’m okay,” Blueberry gasped. “It’s not your fault so try not to worry about it, okay?”

Before Edge could even try to think of a way to save Blueberry he heard the sickening sound of Blueberry’s soul splintering as it fell to pieces.

“No, no, no, no, Blueberry don’t die, please,” Edge begged. But it was already too late, Blueberry’s body was already falling to dust, leaving nothing but a pile of dust in his off blue armor and blue scarf. “No, please no.”

Edge felt like he could’ve fallen to dust himself. He should’ve been the one killed by Papyrus, he’d been the one to upset him in the first place. He should’ve been able to protect Blueberry.

Papyrus suddenly grabbed the back of his hood, yanking him back so that he landed on his back looking up at Papyrus’ evil grin.

“It’s your fault,” Papyrus said placing a boot on Edge’s chest pressing down hard enough to make escape impossible. “It’s your fault he’s dead, if you hadn’t brought him here he would still be alive. If you’d just done as I told you he wouldn’t have been dragged into this mess. If you weren’t so weak and pathetic you would’ve been able to protect him.”

It was true. It was Edge’s fault. Blueberry would’ve been better off if Edge had never shown up. Edge should’ve been able to protect him, and shouldn’t have brought him here in the first place. But he was dead now and it was Edge’s fault.

“Now it’s your turn,” Papyrus said summoning another attack, hovering it menacingly in the air.

Normally Edge would’ve terrified and might’ve begged for his life, but now he just felt numb and empty. Besides he deserved this, Blueberry was dead because of him. So accepting his fate he closed his eyes and waited for death.

But instead of a bone piercing through his skull as he expected he got someone gently shaking his shoulder.

“Come on Edge, wake up,” a voice said softly from far away.

With a jolt he suddenly opened his eyes to see Blueberry looking down at him with a worried expression on his face. He’d been dreaming.

“You’re awake,” Blueberry said with a relieved smile. “You were talking in your sleep and it woke me up. It sounded like you were having a nightmare so I ran over, but I couldn’t get you to wake up until now. And… are you okay? From the sounds of it you seemed to be having a pretty bad dream.”

“I… uh… yeah, I’m… okay. It was just a dream,” Edge said as moved into a sitting position. Lifting a hand to his face he was shocked to find that tears were running down his face.

He hadn’t cried since he was a _very_ young child. He vaguely remembered being yelled at and punished for it once a long time ago. Crying was something only weak monsters did, anyone who wasn’t an infant caught crying would be dusted immediately. But here he was crying because of some shitty dream.

But it had been a _bad_ dream, one of the worst he’d ever had. Even though he had plenty of experience with nightmares in the past this one was worse somehow.

“It was just a dream, you’re… okay. I didn’t…” Trembling with relief Edge pulled Blueberry down onto the couch next to him, hugging him tightly.

Some part of him felt awkward, he’d never initiated this kind of contact before. But after that awful dream he needed to hold Blueberry for a little while, if for no other reason to ensure it really had been just a dream.

“Yeah, it was just a dream. You’re okay now, everything’s fine,” Blueberry said hugging Edge just as tightly. “I’m here, and nothing bad is happening.”

Of course it had just been a dream. If that were real Edge would’ve thought to teleport them to safety. And Papyrus probably would’ve been angrier. And even if Edge did teleport them to his world he would pass out immediately afterward. So it had only been a bad dream, nothing more, even if had left him shaken and in tears.

They held each other for a several minutes as Edge calmed down and his tears dried. The whole time Blueberry continued to mutter quiet assurances that everything was okay. His voice though quite loud sometimes could also be soft and soothing.

“I’m… sorry,” Edge mumbled when they eventually pulled apart. He wasn’t sure if he was apologizing for waking Blueberry up or for clinging to him like a child in need of comfort.

“It’s okay Edge, there’s no need to apologize,” Blueberry assured him. “You feel better now? You want to talk about it?”

“I… uh…” Edge wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk about it. What would Blueberry think of it? But if he’d really been talking in his sleep then Blueberry must already have some idea of what it was about.

So with a sigh he told Blueberry about it. Afterward he even felt a little better for it.

“That would never happen,” Blueberry said once he was done. “I know you would never let that happen.”

“I know; it was… just a dream.” A dream that had felt all too real. Normally in his nightmares he was the one who died, either killed by Papyrus or by falling into the Core when Gaster pushed him. But this dream had been worse than any of those. The thought of Blueberry dying because of him was too much to even think about.

“Are you going to be okay Edge? Do you need me to get you anything?”

“Yeah, I’m good now, thanks.”

“You going be okay to go back to sleep? Or do you want me to stay with you? I know when I have nightmares I don’t like be alone.”

“What is there for you to have nightmares about?” Edge asked. Blueberry’s life was for the most part perfect and peaceful; why would he have nightmares?

“Sometimes I like to watch scary movies, and when I was younger they’d give me nightmares sometimes. Which was probably why Paps didn’t want me watching them, but I did anyways. Afterwards I’d be too scared to sleep alone. Even though I don’t think my bad dreams are really comparable to yours since their clearly from different places.”

“If scary movies give you nightmares why would watch them?” Edge wasn’t even sure how a movie could be scary, why would you be afraid of something that wasn’t real and couldn’t possibly ever hurt you?

“It’s fun to be scared sometimes and the nightmares were never really all that bad. Even though I would pretend they were so that people would want to comfort me. I think Paps was the only one who knew I was exaggerating, but he’d always hug me anyway,” Blueberry said.

‘Fun to be scared sometimes’? That had to be the strangest thing Blueberry had ever said. No, that had to be one of the strangest things anyone had ever said ever. How could being scared be considered fun under any circumstances?

“Anyway, you want to me to move the sleeping bag next to the couch so we can hold hands while we sleep?”

“What?” Still confused by Blueberry’s earlier statement Edge hadn’t quite grasped what Blueberry had said.

“You want me to move my sleeping bag next to the couch so you won’t be lonely while you sleep? There’s not enough space on the couch or in the sleeping bag for both us, so that’s the only way we’ll be able to sleep next to each other. If that’s what you want anyway.”

“I… uh…” Edge didn’t know if that’s what he wanted. But he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep after that nightmare. Maybe being close to Blueberry would help with that. “Yeah sure, let’s do it.”

“Okay.” Blueberry smiled at him before going over to where the sleeping bag lay and moving it right next to the couch running parallel to it. Before crawling into it he gave Edge another hug. “Goodnight Edge, I hope you sleep better now.”

“’Night Blue,” Edge mumbled laying back down on the couch dangling one arm over the side. He smiled to himself as he felt Blueberry take his hand in his own. Comforted by the contact, slight as it was he soon fell into a deep dreamless sleep.


	22. Teleporting

Edge woke to Blueberry standing over him with a big smile on his face. “Good morning Edge, I hope you well slept last night,” he said.

“Mornin’ Blue.” Edge smiled sleepily at him. He had slept well last night, other than that nightmare anyway.

“Papyrus and I made breakfast, it’s pancakes like always. So it’s time to get up.”

With a sigh Edge forced himself into a sitting position. Looking over he saw that Papyrus was just returning from waking Sans, who was trailing behind him, still looking half asleep.

As they ate breakfast Blueberry again sat on the couch with him. It was nice having him close by.

“So Edge are you still planning on trying to take us home today?” Blueberry asked.

“Yeah, I’ll do it tonight after supper. Since I always sleep for a long time afterward anyway, might as well do it closer to night.”

Also if he failed and they ended up in a dangerous world (like his own), there’d be less monsters about closer to dark. Of course that wouldn’t really help much, Blueberry would still end up dust regardless. And so would he for that matter, but he’d be unconscious and wouldn’t feel it, or have to watch Blueberry die because of his mistake.

“Are you sure?” Papyrus asked from his spot at the table next to Sans. “We don’t mind if you guys hang out here for a few more days, right Sans?”

“Yeah, _tibia_ honest it’s kinda cool having two other versions of myself around,” Sans said. “You could even say it’s been a real _sans_ ational experience.”

“Really Sans? The day just started and you’re already making bad jokes,” Papyrus said.

“Of course bro, it’s never too early to be _pun_ ny,” Sans replied with a grin.

“Anyway Edge,” Papyrus continued pointedly ignoring Sans’ latest pun. “As I was saying, feel free to stay here as long as you like.”

“Nah, I uh… need try it as soon as possible. It might be a bit risky but I like to live life on the _edge_ anyway.”

“Really Edge? Not you too,” Blueberry complained.

Edge needed to try as soon as possible because otherwise all his worries about not being able to take Blueberry home would continue to eat at him. Eventually it would get to a point where he would become so stressed about it, that failure would become inevitable. He was already starting to feel like he needed to pace and claw things and it was nowhere near the time he’d set himself to try to teleport Blueberry home. Today was going to be a _long_ day.

After breakfast they all left for sentry duty again. Blueberry again held his hand the whole way there. Once there they made the circuit to insure Papyrus’ puzzles were still set for the off chance that a human would not only come would also be dumb enough to be held up by them.

“So what do you want to do today Edge?” Blueberry asked him once they done.

“I don’t know, nap maybe.” Edge wasn’t sure if would be able to nap. He couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if he failed to bring Blueberry home. “Can I… talk to you for a minute?”

“Of course,” Blueberry said following him a short distance away, far enough to ensure Sans and Papyrus wouldn’t be able to hear them.

“What if… I can’t get you home? And I know you’re going to say I can and not to worry about it. But what if I really _can’t_?”

“I… I don’t know. We would have to figure something else out. If travel to other universes is possible through teleportation than there has to be other ways to do it too, right? You’re really smart, you said you helped build the Core, maybe you could build something that would let you choose which universe you traveled to.”

“Do you have any idea how many alternate universes there are? How could I possibly build something that would be able to find yours and take us there?” Edge raked his claws down the face of a nearby tree. “Besides I gave up science long ago. I’ve actually become kind of dumb since building the Core.”

“You’re not dumb,” Blueberry chastised him. “But why did you give up on science?”

“Because Gaster’s a piece of shit. Working on the Core with him taught me just how worthless I am.” Edge clawed the tree again, he’d start pacing but Blueberry was here and would stop him.

“Edge, we’ve talked about this. Remember you said you’d try to like yourself a little more?”

“How can I like myself when you might never see your home again because of me? Or worse what if I accidentally bring you to my world or something and you get hurt because of it? I don’t… I can’t… If you died, especially if it was because of me…” Edge wasn’t normally one to dwell on his nightmares, but last night’s dream had been too awful to just simply forget like all the others.

“I can take care of myself, so even if we do end up in a dangerous world I’m not going to die. I may not be as strong as you but I can still fight. So don’t worry about getting me killed because it’s not going to happen. And even if I do get injured or something it won’t be your fault.”

It wasn’t Blueberry’s fighting capabilities that had Edge worried, he’d seen Blueberry train with Alphys, he could hold his own in a fight. It was the fact that he was too nice to ever be willing to kill or seriously injure someone, even in self-defense. If he ever got into a serious fight with any of the monsters from Edge’s world it would end poorly for him if he tried to be merciful. And he _would_ try to be merciful. On top of that there was also the fact that there were a lot of monsters undoubtedly stronger than him, like Edge’s brother.

“And another thing Edge,” Blueberry continued. “Even if we do never see home again, I’ll still not be mad you and I’ll still be your friend. Like I said yesterday, I’ll always care about you no matter what happens.”

Edge had to resist the urge to try to pull away from that, he didn’t deserve that kind of kindness. But Blueberry didn’t care if he deserved it or not and there was nothing Edge could do to change that. So he’d just have to accept it.

“Oh, uh yeah, I… know and I… uh… guess I… care about you too,” he said staring down at the ground as he shuffled his feet. “Even though I don’t think I’ll ever understand you.”

Glancing back up he saw Blueberry giving him a bright excited smile. He looked like Edge had just given him the greatest compliment in the world.

Looking like he could barely contain his excitement Blueberry pulled Edge into a hug, squeezing him tightly. “You have no idea how happy you’ve just made me,” he said before pulling back and giving Edge another glowing smile. “But it’s okay if you don’t understand me, I have trouble understanding you sometimes too. Which is weird because you are me. But that’s probably because of how different we are.”

Edge gave him a small smile in return unsure on how to respond. He thought back to what Sans had said last night. He’d been implying that he and Blueberry might be more than just friends. Or at the very least that they might have more than friendly feelings for each other. But being more than friends would mean they were… romantically involved.

Romance was rare in Edge’s universe, so he didn’t know that much about it. He’d never even once considered being in a romantic relationship, he hated people too much for that. So he wasn’t even sure what romantic feelings were supposed to feel like. Especially since having friendly feelings was still new to him

So did he want to be like that with Blueberry? Sans had implied that how much they touched was unusual for friends, so maybe he did.

But did _Blueberry_ want that kind of relationship? Edge couldn’t even begin to guess. There was no way he could ask since he wasn’t sure what he wanted himself. And if he brought it up it might make things awkward between them and he definitely didn’t want that.

But in the end it didn’t actually matter, even if they did both want that, it wouldn’t last. Edge wouldn’t be able to stay in Blueberry’s world, assuming of course that he could get them there in the first place. So he would drop the thought, it wasn’t worth thinking about when he had much more important things to worry about. Like getting Blueberry home.

 

He spent the rest of the day trying not to think about failing to teleport to Blueberry’s world. He even partially succeeded sometimes when Blueberry distracted him.

Blueberry spent most of his time hanging out with Sans and Papyrus, meaning Edge did too. Even though he napped on and off through most of it.

The closer they got to evening the longer the time seemed to drag and the harder it was not to contemplate failure. But finally at last after a very stressful supper for Edge he decided it was time to try.

“Are you really sure you’re ready to do this Edge?” Blueberry asked him once he announced his decision to try.

“Yeah, you’re free to stay for as long as you like,” Sans said.

“I… uh, have to do it eventually. I can’t delay it forever.” The longer Edge delayed the more stressed he would be about it when the time came.

“Well, all right then if you’re sure,” Papyrus said. “I guess we’ll see you guys later then, or maybe not. You’ll come back and visit sometime right? And bring your brother because I would very much like to meet him.”

“Yeah that would be fun,” Blueberry said. “We’ll visit sometime, right Edge?”

“Uh… maybe, depends on… stuff.”

“Okay then, let’s do this,” Blueberry said linking his arm through Edge’s. “See you guys later, hopefully.”

Edge teleported them to the forest outside Snowdin first. “I’m doing it out here in case I mess up and we end up in a world similar to mine,” he said before Blueberry could ask him why he’d done that. “If that is the case don’t interact with anyone, especially Papyrus.”

“How would I be able to tell?”

“Everyone will look meaner and there might be a few of them covered in dust.”

“If that does happen, what do you want me to do? You’ll probably pass out again, right?”

“I… don’t know.” Edge couldn’t even imagine how horrible it would be if that did happen. Thinking about it made him nauseous.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to get us home. Just think really hard about my universe and don’t think about failing, okay?” Blueberry gave a brief but tight hug before linking their arms again.

“O-okay.”

Holding tight to Blueberry’s arm Edge focused his mind on Blueberry’s universe. What it had felt like, the subtle difference between it and this one. It was very similar to how he’d mastered his normal teleport power. At the same time, he also thought about not being here in this universe anymore.

With a deep breath he gathered his magic and teleported.


	23. Home

“Did I do it?” Edge mumbled before collapsing. Blueberry wrapped his arms around him to keep him relatively upright despite his now unconscious state.

Even though he’d been expecting it this time Blueberry still felt dizzy and disoriented after the teleport. But as soon as he came to his senses he knew it had worked, or least he was pretty sure. It felt like home anyway.

Trying to contain his excitement Blueberry scooped Edge up into his arms and started towards Snowdin and home. As he walked he became certain that it was his world. Everything was exactly how he remembered it and it all felt familiar too. He even noticed the claw marks in some of the trees from when Edge took his anger and stress out on them.

Meaning Edge had really done it. He’d brought them home. Despite his constant assurances to Edge that everything would be fine a small part of Blueberry had still been a little worried. But he’d been confident that Edge could do it and he had.

It wasn’t long before he reached the house. Opening the door while still carrying Edge was a bit awkward but he got it done.

“Paps we’re home,” he called loudly as he closed the door behind him with his foot. There was no answer. Maybe Paps was out somewhere looking for them.

Blueberry shook his head in disappointment and annoyance when he saw the state of the living room. The floor was un-vacuumed and there were empty honey bottles and plastic wrappers discarded about the place. Papyrus’ ashtray was overflowing on the coffee table. A quick glance in the kitchen confirmed that he hadn’t done the dishes either. Blueberry had only been gone a few days and Papyrus had already made a mess.

“Paps, we’re back,” he called again, but still got no reply. Papyrus was definitely out. That was fine, Blueberry would just have to go find him.

But first he had to get Edge situated. Deciding he could benefit from sleeping on a real bed for once Blueberry carried him up the stairs to his room. After gently laying him on the bed Blueberry pulled off his shoes and jacket, placing them to the side. He then tucked him in with the blanket that was part of his airplane themed bedspread.

“Sleep tight,” Blueberry whispered before giving Edge a goodnight kiss on the forehead. Leaving he softly closed the door behind him even though Edge wouldn’t be waking up for anything anytime soon.

At the bottom of the stairs he wondered if he should clean first or go look for Papyrus. He could maybe guilt trip Papyrus into at least helping him clean so he would look for Papyrus first. The most logical place to find him would probably be Muffet’s, since he went there far more often than was healthy.

By the time he reached Muffet’s the artificial lights that made the day cycle were starting to dim. As he reached for the handle to push the door opened someone on the other side opened it first.

“Paps!” he said excitedly when he saw it was his brother.

“Oh my gosh Sans, you’re back,” Papyrus replied pulling him into a hug. “Where’ve you been? I’ve been worried sick about you. You’re okay, you’re not hurt or injured or anything are you?” Papyrus pulled back to look Blueberry over for injuries. “And where’s Edge? Is he with you?”

“I’m fine and Edge is sleeping. You see what happened was he accidentally teleported us to another universe. But it’s okay because he brought us back.”

“Ya know, that thought did kinda cross my mind. I was worried that you might be in danger, but I figured that as long as you had Edge with you that you’d probably be fine. But I’m glad you made it back.”

“Yeah me too. Edge was super worried that he wouldn’t be able to do it, but he did. And he was convinced you would be mad at him about it and wouldn’t believe me when I told him that you wouldn’t be. You aren’t mad, are you? Because that would be very unfair if you were.”

“No, why would I be mad when he brought you back safe and sound?”

“Good. And that other world was really cool Paps. You’ll never guess how different the other versions of us were.”

As they started walking back towards the house Blueberry told him everything he could about the other universe, and how interesting and exciting everything had been. Of course he brought up that they would have to go visit sometime when Edge was ready for that.

He was still talking when they reached the house, stopping when he once again saw how messy it had become in his brief absence. How had Papyrus managed to make this big a mess in such a shot amount of time?

“Paps, you’re going to help me clean the living room and kitchen,” he said after surveying the room and giving Papyrus his best disapproving look.

“Oh yeah, sorry ‘bout that.” Papyrus at least had the decency to feel guilty about the mess he’d made. “I’ll clean it up tomorrow, don’t worry about it.”

“No, we’re cleaning it tonight,” Blueberry said putting his foot down. “I know you, you’re going to put it off until sometime late tomorrow and then you’re going to do a poor job because clean enough for you isn’t anywhere near what’s considered clean to the rest of the world.”

“Well yeah, I guess ya got me there.” Papyrus shrugged.

As they cleaned Blueberry went back to telling Papyrus all about his and Edge’s adventure to the other universe. Blueberry ended up doing most of the work since even though Papyrus was trying his best he still didn’t work very fast. But the fact that he was trying was good enough and his help did make it go by slightly faster.

By the time everything was as clean as it was supposed to be, it was almost full dark outside. Meaning it was almost time to go to bed.

“Where’s Edge? Doesn’t he normally sleep on the couch?” Papyrus asked as Blueberry put the vacuum cleaner back in the closest with all the other cleaning supplies.

“He’s upstairs sleeping on my bed. I figured he could sleep on a real bed for a change,” Blueberry explained as he closed the closest door.

“So you’re sleeping on the couch tonight?”

“No, there’s enough room on the bed for both of us.”

“Oh I see, well whatever makes ya happy I guess,” Papyrus said. “You still wanna a bedtime story?”

“Of course, I don’t really need them anymore but they’re still nice,” Blueberry said as he started making his way up the stairs towards his room, Papyrus following behind him.

Once there he paused to look at Edge who was still sleeping peacefully. How was he going to react once he found out that all his worry had been for nothing? He was probably going to finally be happy for once. The thought of Edge being happy made Blueberry happy too.

“You know how long is he gonna sleep for?” Papyrus asked.

“He slept for what felt like ages last time. It made me worried because he wouldn’t get up even when I tried to make him, but it all turned out fine. So he’ll probably wake up sometime late tomorrow. But he’s going to be so happy when he sees he brought us home.”

“Is there any particular reason you wanna sleep next to him?”

“He had a nightmare last night that really upset him. And I don’t know if he has nightmares very often or not, but if he has one while sleeping on the couch I’m worried he wouldn’t really do anything. And I want to be there for him to make him feel better if he does have one.” And holding his hand while they’d slept last night had been nice.

“He tell you what that nightmare was about?” Papyrus asked.

“Yeah, he said I died in it and that he thought it was his fault. It upset him enough that he was crying a little.”

Edge didn’t seem like the type of person to cry easily. And seeing him in tears had made Blueberry’s soul ache in need to comfort him. To make all the pain go away forever and always, to see his small but happy smile again.

“Yeah I guess that would be a pretty bad dream to have,” Papyrus said. “Anyway what story do you want tonight?”

“The one about the velvet rabbit,” Blueberry said already crawling into bed next to Edge, maybe a bit closer than was necessary.

After grabbing the correct book from the bookshelf in the corner Papyrus sat on the chair next to the bed and began reading. Papyrus had been reading him a bedtime story almost every night for as long as he could remember. Even after he got old enough not to need them to fall asleep anymore. It had always been one his favourite routines, Papyrus would send him to sleep at night and he’d wake Papyrus in the morning for breakfast.

As Papyrus’ voice slowly sent him to sleep Blueberry reached over to take one of Edge’s hands, so that they were holding hands like they had last night. His last thought before sleep took him was wondering if Edge would like having a story read to him at night as well.


	24. Success

Edge woke slowly, he had no idea where he was. He was laying on what was without a doubt the most comfortable bed he’d ever slept on. It was even more comfortable than the couch and he hadn’t thought that was possible.

He didn’t want to get up but as he gradually came to his senses he remembered what had happened before he’d passed out. He’d tried to teleport Blueberry home. It felt similar to Blueberry’s world, maybe, but that might just be wishful thinking. He couldn’t be sure until he spoke with someone. It probably wasn’t though, that would be too easy.

So with a groan he forced himself to sit up. The room was painted blue with white clouds dotted about the place, obviously meant to resemble the Surface’s sky. Edge would never know how accurate it was though. In the corner was a bookshelf filled with books and other odd items of varying usefulness. Hanging on the wall next to it was a black flag with a skull and crossbones printed on it.

Other than him the room was empty. And judging by the light coming the window it was about midday. He still had no idea where he was though.

After slipping on his shoes and jacket, which had both been placed to the side he exited the room, closing the door behind him. Apparently he’d been in Blueberry’s room, assuming of course that this actually was Blueberry’s world. But knowing his luck, it wouldn’t be.

“Hey, you’re finally up,” Papyrus’ voice drifted up from the living room as Edge started down the stairs.

Looking over Edge saw he was wearing an orange hoodie and lounging on the couch smoking. And from the recognizance on his face it was obvious that this was Blueberry’s brother. Meaning Edge had done it. He’d brought Blueberry back home. For once in his life he hadn’t failed, or made things worse.

“It worked, oh my gosh it actually worked,” Edge muttered putting one hand on the banister for support. He hadn’t realized just how tense he’d become after he’d gotten up, how fearful he’d been that he’d failed. But he’d done it, he’d brought Blueberry home.

“You okay?” Papyrus asked him.

“Yeah, I’m uh fine,” Edge replied as he finished making his way down the stairs. His relief at having successfully brought Blueberry home outweighed his stress about having to face Papyrus, for now anyway. “Where’s Blueberry?”

“Alphys’. He wanted to be here when you woke up but I told him Alphys had been worried about him too. So he decided to go see her for a bit. That was like half an hour ago so he should be back soon. But while we wait for him why don’t you come sit on the couch with me? There’s something I kinda wanna talk to you about.”

This was it, Papyrus was going to let his anger be known.  He was going to punish Edge somehow and then tell him to never to go near his baby brother again. And probably tell him to leave as soon as possible too.

But Edge deserved all that. He’d put Blueberry in potential danger and it was possible he might do it again someday. So suddenly tense again he forced himself to walk over and sit on one end of the couch. Papyrus luckily was already sitting on the far side.

“Dude relax, I’m not gonna hurt ya,” Papyrus said.

Edge didn’t respond. How could he relax when he was about to have the only person in his life to make him happy taken away? Even if Papyrus didn’t plan on physically punishing him there was still no way he’d tolerate Edge being anywhere near Blueberry. Not after what he’d done.

Papyrus took a long draw from his cigarette. “I’m not mad at you.” He sighed letting out a cloud a smoke above his head.

“What?!” Edge flinched resisting the sudden urge to stand up and start pacing. Surely Papyrus was lying, right? Why wouldn’t he be mad? He had every right to be mad.

“I’m not mad at you. I know you didn’t intentionally teleport with Sans to another universe and everything turned out fine anyway. So I’m not mad at you. And even if I tried to be Sans would be very unhappy with me.”

“But you should be,” Edge said wishing there was something nearby for him to sink his claws into. “You had no way to know if it was even possible for us to get back. He could’ve gotten killed if we’d ended up in the wrong universe. And that would’ve been entirely my fault. So you should be fucking furious with me. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you? You’re acting like this whole fucking thing didn’t even upset you.”

How could Papyrus be so calm about this? Didn’t he understand the potential danger Edge had put Blueberry in? He could’ve gotten Blueberry _killed_. How could Papyrus be all right with that?

Papyrus cared about Blueberry more than anything, therefor Papyrus should be mad at him for putting Blueberry in danger. But he wasn’t. If anybody ever put Blueberry in any amount of potential danger, Edge would be mad at them regardless of how things turned out. Why didn’t Papyrus feel the same?

“I _was_ upset when Sans disappeared,” Papyrus said. “very upset. Especially after it occurred to me that you might’ve brought him to your world. I don’t think I’ve ever been more worried in my whole life. But it’s not your fault and I don’t blame you for it. I know you would never intentionally put him in harm’s way. Just promise not to do anything like that again, okay?”

“And what the fuck makes you think that I would?” It was possible that he might do it on accident again, but he’d never do intentionally. Was this when Papyrus would tell him to stay away from Blueberry?

“I don’t think you’d do it on purpose. I’m just saying go out of your way to make sure you don’t do it on accident either.”

Unable to contain his stress any longer Edge stood up and started pacing after all. Back and forth in front of the couch and across the length of the living room. “You should still be fucking mad at me, because it _was_ my fault and I could’ve gotten him _killed_. The fact that we ended up in a friendly world was pure luck, and the fact that I was able to get him back home was also nothing but luck. And no matter how hard I try I still might do it on accident again and if he’s with me he could get hurt because of it.”

“Well since you presumably know how you did it now you should be able to stop yourself. So just… calm down please,” Papyrus said sounding a tad stressed himself. “How’d ya do it anyway?” he continued after a short pause.

Still pacing, Edge quickly explained how he did it and what little else he knew about it. He’d have to experiment with it some if he wanted to know more. But considering how vulnerable it left him he’d have to be careful about where he teleported from.

Once he finished explaining he slowed his pacing to a stop in front of Papyrus but refused to look at him, staring down at his grungy sneakers instead as he balled his hands into fists in his coat pockets. “Are you uh gonna… tell me to leave now? To uh stay away from your brother?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper. The answer had to be yes, and Papyrus probably would’ve brought up himself soon anyway. But he needed this part to be over with as soon as possible so that he could start to learn how to deal with all the pain it would bring.

“No, of course not.” Papyrus sounded shocked, as if not only had the idea never occurred to him but it also horrified him a little. “Why would you think I would _ever_ do something like that?”

Confused by that response Edge looked up to see that Papyrus was entirely serious, he wasn’t going to send Edge away or tell him not to hang out with Blueberry anymore. But then how was Edge supposed to respond to that? Feeling even more stressed than before he resumed pacing with renewed vigor.

“Because… because I put him in danger and I might do it again someday,” he managed to say after walking the length of the room a couple times.

“Edge no, I’m not gonna send you away because of something like that. It’s not like you intentionally put him in any danger and it’s not likely that you’ll do it again. Why would you ever even think that?” Papyrus pulled out another cigarette, lighting it after snubbing out the butt of the old one on the ashtray on the armrest next to him. “Even if I did have any say in who my bro hangs out with (which I don’t) I definitely wouldn’t stop him from hanging out with you. There was a time when I probably would’ve, but not anymore.”

“But I don’t… I can’t… and I could’ve…” Edge didn’t understand. Papyrus was _supposed_ to be mad at him. _Somebody_ had to be mad at him about this. He’d fucked up big time, it was only by sheer luck that everything had turned out fine.

“Sans please be back soon.” Papyrus’ muttered under his breath, his voice barely registering to Edge as he continued pacing. “Please Edge just calm down, I really don’t know how Sans does it but please just try to relax or something.”

Edge didn’t respond. He couldn’t respond. What was he even supposed to do now? Blueberry being overly nice to him and forgiving him when he didn’t deserve it was one thing, Blueberry was just that kind of person. But Papyrus doing the same was different, he had every right to be upset with Edge and should’ve been, but he wasn’t.

He’d been so ready for Papyrus to be mad at him that he wasn’t even sure what to do now. He deserved Papyrus’ anger but he wasn’t getting it. It was even more confusing than Blueberry’s lack of anger.

Why couldn’t anyone in this world be unhappy with him when he did something wrong? It was perhaps the first time in his life that he felt like he actually deserved to be punished. But it wasn’t happening.

Edge paced in silence for what felt like ages but was probably only a couple minutes. He knew Papyrus watched him the whole time but refused to look at him. He wanted to just leave but couldn’t bring himself to do it, Blueberry would hopefully be back soon and make everything better like he always did.

As if the thought summoned him the front door opened and in walked Blueberry. “You’re awake!” his ever present smile widened when he saw Edge.

With a rush of relief Edge met Blueberry at the halfway point between them. As they embraced it wasn’t even a case as who hugged who first as it was pretty much simultaneous.

“I’m glad your back,” Edge whispered feeling much of his stress melt away as he clung to Blueberry.

“Oh, are you okay? Did something happen?” Blueberry asked pulling back a little to talk face to face.

“No I’m fine, just happy to see ya, that’s all.” Edge still spoke in a whisper hoping Papyrus wouldn’t hear. He wasn’t sure why he cared if Papyrus heard or not, it was obvious Edge was happy to see Blueberry from the way they’d greeted each other. So it shouldn’t matter if he heard Edge’s words or not.

“I’m really happy to see you too.” Blueberry gave him a warm smile before hugging him again. “And I’m really happy to see you as well Paps.” Blueberry took Edge’s hand and guided him back to the couch. As always Blueberry sat himself in the middle so that Edge didn't have to sit next to Papyrus.

Edge looked over to see that Papyrus was watching them with an intent expression on his face. Blueberry hadn’t started hugging him all the time until after they’d gone to that other universe. Meaning Papyrus had never seen them hug like that before.

What did he think of it? Was he upset with how close they were becoming? Would he think like Sans had and assume they were more than friends and be mad at Edge about it? Surely he wouldn’t want his baby brother to be in that type of a relationship with Edge of all people.

“I hope you two were getting along and hopefully maybe becoming friends?” Blueberry smiled expectedly at both of them.

“We were kinda sorta getting along, maybe I guess.” Papyrus shrugged. “I don’t think we were becoming friends though.”

“Well I know you two will be great friends once Edge gets a little more relaxed around you, right Edge? You’ll make an effort to become Paps friend now too right?”

“I… uh, I don’ know,” Edge mumbled. _Could_ he and Papyrus ever really be friends? Maybe it was possible, they did have a number of things in common after all. Even though he still felt like Papyrus should be mad at him, which would make friendship difficult.

“It’s okay Edge take your time, I know you and Paps will become friends eventually,” Blueberry said patting his arm. “How long have you been up for anyway? I wanted to be here when you woke up but Paps was right I had to go see Alphys because she was worried about me too. I tried to make the trip as fast as possible to be back before you got up, but I guess I failed. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s not a big deal. I haven’t been up that long anyway,” Edge replied. He hadn’t expected Blueberry to apologize about that, but the fact that he cared enough to do so was nice.

“Anyway it’s time for lunch. I’m going to try that spaghetti recipe I learned in that other universe. So if either of you guys need me feel free to call me over.”

Before getting up Blueberry briefly hugged Edge again, warm and reassuring. But before he could leave however, Edge lightly grabbed his wrist. “Wait, do uh need help with that?” he asked.

“Are you asking if I need help cooking?” Blueberry’s face light up with a bright smile.

“Um yeah, I guess so. I’m just bored so I thought I’d offer to help, or something. It’s cool if you don’t want me getting in the way though.”

Edge didn’t want to be left alone with Papyrus. Not because it was Papyrus, but because he was worried about resuming their earlier conversation. Or that Papyrus might want to talk to him about his relationship with Blueberry.

“No of course you won’t get in the way. In fact, I would love your help. Paps why don’t you help too? That way we can work on you two becoming friends.”

Papyrus glanced at Edge before replying, as if he were checking to make sure that that was okay. And it was, as long as Blueberry was there it would be fine, not ideal but fine nonetheless. Blueberry’s presence would at least prevent any uncomfortable conversations.

“Yeah sure, let’s do it, could be fun,” Papyrus said with a lazy shrug.

“Yippee, this is going to be so much fun,” Blueberry said jumping up off the couch, taking Edge’s hand and leading the way to the kitchen.


	25. Cooking

The first thing Edge learned about cooking was that he wasn’t very good at it and had no idea where to even begin. He’d never even attempted to cook before, (always thought it was too much work) and kind of regretted offering to try. But it was too late to back down now, his offer to help had made Blueberry happy so he would have to deal with it.

Blueberry was of course patient with him, explaining and occasionally showing how to do things. He seemed overjoyed to be teaching Edge how to cook. “And once the noodles and sauce are done cooking it’ll be time to eat,” he said with a clap of his hands once everything was put on the stove top to cook. “And tonight for dinner I can teach you how to make tacos.”

“Uh sure I guess, sounds like fun.” Edge shrugged. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to learn how to cook, but Blueberry seemed excited by the thought so he’d go along with it. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do anyway, and it would help keep his thoughts at bay for a little while longer.

“I’m glad you’re learning how to cook Edge because think of all the _pasta_ bilities of having two chefs in house,” Papyrus said with a grin. He had helped the least in making lunch, spending more time watching Blueberry and Edge than actually helping. His scrutiny had made Edge uncomfortable but Blueberry’s energetic instruction had kept him from dwelling on it too much.

“Paps really? Now is not the time for bad jokes,” Blueberry playfully scolded him. “Also we could have _three_ cooks in the house if you ever bothered to try to improve you cooking skills.”

“Ah bro ya know I would but I know how much ya like cooking, how could I ever take that away from you?”

“True, but it’s fun when you help me, even if you don’t do much work. And all three of us working together was fun, right Edge? You had fun right?” Blueberry smiled at him.

“Yeah, I guess.” Edge shrugged. Hanging out with Blueberry was always fun even when it was dampened by actually having to do work. But he was starting to feel in need of a nap now.

“Of course it was. And I know you two will be best friends in no time. Well maybe not best friends since Edge is _my_ best friend but you guys will be like second best friends.”

Being called Blueberry’s best friend was unexpected but nice, he’d never been called anything like that before. Of course Blueberry was _his_ best friend, since he was his only friend. But knowing Blueberry considered him his best friend as well felt good, even if he probably didn’t deserve that honor (surely Blueberry must have a bunch of friends better than him, right?).

“Yeah, I’m sure me and Edgy Mc My Chemical Romance could be pals. Assuming he’s down for it,” Papyrus said holding out his hand in an offering of friendship.

“Yeah it’s uh… _pasta_ ble I suppose, as long as you never call me that again,” Edge said shaking his proffered hand. He could’ve/should’ve come up with a better pun than that but was too tired and nervous to think much beyond the obvious jokes. The main reason he was even agreeing to try was because it’s would make Blueberry happy.

“Oh I’m so happy you guys are finally friends,” Blueberry said almost jumping for joy before first squeezing Edge in an unexpected hug and then turning and hugging Papyrus next.

Edge wasn’t sure they could be called friends yet (or if they could ever truly be friends) but he was too tired to say anything. And it made Blueberry happy so he wasn’t about to contradict him.

Just then a loud beep came from the stove signaling that the food was ready.

“Ah food’s done,” Blueberry said turning to turn the stove off. “And Edge I know normally you like to eat at on the couch but do you think maybe you could try sitting at the table with us today? It’s just I don’t want you to be lonely but if I sit on the couch with you then Paps would be lonely.”

“Or we could all eat on the couch,” Papyrus suggested.

“Yeah I guess we could, but the table’s much nicer and more proper. But if Edge isn’t comfortable sitting at the table then I guess we’ll _have_ to. So what’ll be Edge? If you’re not comfortable at the table that’s fine,” Blueberry said turning to Edge.

“Table’s fine.” Edge shrugged. Even though he did find the concept of sitting at the table with them to be a little intimidating if he sat on the couch right now he’d fall asleep within minutes. And as tired as he was he needed to eat before he took a nap.

“Yes good, table it is then,” Blueberry said with a smile before moving to get everything ready.

As they ate, Papyrus sat at the head of the table with Blueberry sitting between him and Edge. The only times Edge had previously eaten sitting at a table he’d always been alone, and even then he’d only done so because the couch was occupied. So much like a lot of other things in his life lately this was a new experience.

He wasn’t sure it was a good one though, the couch was a lot more comfortable. Even though in this instance that was probably a good thing else he wouldn’t have been able to stay awake long enough to finish eating.

“So what do you guys want to do now?” Blueberry asked once lunch was over and they’d washed their dishes and put away the leftovers.

“We could watch T.V.” Papyrus suggested.

“But that’s not exciting,” Blueberry argued. “What about you Edge, what do you want to do now?”

“T.V.’s fine.” Watching T.V. would be the perfect opportunity to take a nap.

“All right fine, we’ll watch T.V. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you two want to be lazy,” Blueberry conceded leading the way back to the living room.

As they all sat down on the couch Edge didn’t even wait for the T.V. to be switched on before leaning up against Blueberry, his head on his shoulder, and letting himself fall asleep at last.

 

***

Blueberry was a little surprised when after sitting on the couch Edge leaned up against him and immediately fell asleep. He’d seen that Edge was tired but he hadn’t expected him to fall asleep just like that. But it was fine, he didn’t mind Edge sleeping against him even if it did restrict his movement a little.

“He asleep?” Papyrus asked switching the T.V. on to one of Napstablook’s shows.

“Yeah,” Blueberry said speaking softly so as not to wake Edge. Normally he disapproved of napping the middle of the day like this but Edge had just teleported from another universe yesterday, it made sense for him to be tired. Also he deserved to relax a little after he’d looked so nervous and stressed earlier when Blueberry had first got home. Not to mention knowing him spending so much time with Papyrus had probably also stressed him at least a little bit.

“So you two are real close huh?” Papyrus said. “Closer than before your little adventure to another universe. Did something… happen between you guys while you were there?”

“Uh no, I don’t think anything special happened.”

Did something happen between them that he wasn’t aware of? He’d learned that Edge liked hugs and that he seemed to relax a bit more when Blueberry touched him. Did those things count as something happening between them? It meant that they’d become closer friends, which was a good thing.

“Ya sure ‘bout that?” Papyrus said.

“Well, I guess we did kind of have some pretty… heavy conversations about some stuff.” Conversations with some disturbing implications.

“Like what?”

“His brother.” Blueberry had done his best not to think about what he’d learned about Edge’s brother, but it still bothered him. He couldn’t understand how _anybody_ let alone a version of Papyrus could be like that.

“Is it anything you’re allowed to talk about? Or did he say not to tell anyone?”

“No, he didn’t say I couldn’t talk about it.” There were things that Blueberry wouldn’t mention though, like the fact that Edge had killed people in the past. Not because he thought Papyrus wouldn’t understand, but because Edge probably wouldn’t want him knowing. “He said his bro hurts him and beats him up a lot.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to say that that doesn’t really surprise me,” Papyrus said.

“What really? Why not?”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed how nervous he is around me sometimes. And there’ve been times when he seemed to believe I might want to hurt him. When I tried to tell him I wouldn’t he started freaking out, you know how he gets sometimes. In truth if you weren’t around to calm him down all the time I don’t think I could handle him.”

“Oh.” Blueberry smiled to himself, glad that he could make Edge feel better, or least that he could make Edge feel better most of the time. “It was us talking about his brother and stuff that had him freaking out enough that he teleported the way he did.”

Just then Edge mumbled something incoherent that might’ve been something about Blueberry, as he pressed himself further into Blueberry’s side. Now he was more cuddling than he was leaning and Blueberry was perfectly fine with that. He smiled as he put an arm around Edge’s shoulders allowing him to cuddle even closer.

He was warm and comfortable against Blueberry’s side. Blueberry just wanted him to be happy, but sometimes it seemed like he didn’t want to be happy. Seeing Edge unhappy made Blueberry sad too.

“Paps, I don’t understand, how could any version of you be like that? Or anyone who’s supposed to be similar to me?” he asked hoping Papyrus might be able to make more sense of it than he could.

“I don’t know, different universes I guess. But he’s here now so he doesn’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Yeah Edge didn’t have to worry about it anymore, he was here. And there was no way he’d want to leave, right? He was happy here, he belonged here with people who cared about him. So he’d have no reason to leave… right?

“Yeah he’s here now so everything’s going to be okay. And you guys are well on you way to becoming second best friends.” Blueberry said banishing his doubts. Even if Edge could be a bit difficult and maybe a little self-destructive sometimes there was no way he’d want to leave Blueberry. So everything was going to be just fine.


	26. Cards

“Wake up Edge, it’s time to make supper if you still want to help,” Blueberry voice cut into Edge’s dream.

He’d been dreaming about the two of them hanging out in a field of echo flowers. He couldn’t remember the details of the dream, only that it left him with a warm pleasant feeling.

He reluctantly opened his eyes to see Blueberry smiling brightly at him, “You still want to help me cook right?” he asked.

“Hmm, sure I guess,” Edge mumbled. He’d rather continue sleeping but he was already up so might as well.

“Paps you coming too?” Blueberry turned to Papyrus who was lounging on the other side of the couch.

“Uh, sure I guess,” he mumbled also looking like he’d just been woken from a nap.

Despite their tiredness Blueberry maintained his excitement as he took Edge’s hand and led the way to the kitchen once more. Once there he immediately set them to work, explaining to Edge how everything was supposed to be done.

It turned out that making tacos was easier than making spaghetti. Even though it was still more work than Edge would normally be willing to put into something. But by the time everything was finished he was fully awake and judging by the look of things so was Papyrus.

They again ate at the table. That was probably going to become a regular thing for however long Edge ended up staying here. It could’ve been worse; Blueberry at least was as always good company, idly chatting about various topics.

“Instead of watching more T.V. why don’t we play a game now instead?” Blueberry said once supper was over and Edge and Papyrus were about to go back to the living room to laze around on the couch and watch more television.

“What kind of game?” Edge asked. Games weren’t a common thing in his world and the ones that were played either involved violence or gambling. This world probably didn’t have many games like that.

After some discussion they decided on cards since it was the only thing Edge knew how to play. So after Papyrus pulled out his deck of cards they all sat around the kitchen table again. This time Blueberry sat at the head with Papyrus and Edge sitting across from each other.

Edge started cheating almost right from the get go. It was more out of habit than wanting to win since there wasn’t anything on the line. Back home he’d played various card games at Grillby’s all the time for money. It was the only source of income that his brother didn’t know about so he was free to use it however he wished without being yelled at and criticized for it. And because he always cheated he could often walk away with quite a bit, as long as he was careful not to do so too often else no one would play with him. No one had ever caught him cheating. He’d been accused of it hundreds of times but no one could ever prove it, therefore no one could ever do anything about it.

“You’re cheating somehow,” Papyrus observed after the third or fourth hand when Edge had thoroughly trounced them. It wasn’t surprising that Papyrus was smart enough to catch onto that, the only question was could he prove it?

“No, I’m just good.” Good at cheating. Edge wanted to know how far he could push it. Papyrus wouldn’t hurt him even if he was mad about Edge cheating. So the only thing he was risking was their tentative friendship. Not that he wanted to lose that, that would make Blueberry sad. But it wasn’t like his cheating was hurting anybody so it wasn’t that big a deal.

“Edge wouldn’t cheat, that’s against the rules,” Blueberry said. He was one of the worst card players Edge had ever played with, his open and honest facial expressions were too easy to read. It was like he wasn’t even trying to hide anything. But he seemed to be enjoying himself despite that.

“Yeah I’m not breaking any rules, unless you can prove that I am,” Edge challenged. Papyrus was at least as smart as him so this might end up being interesting to say the least.

“Very well then,” Papyrus said with a sly grin, he was planning something. What Edge couldn’t guess but it made things more interesting.

A few hands later it became obvious that Papyrus was cheating now too, surprising since it seemed like he’d be a goody two shoes. But Edge had never been out cheated before, there was no way he’d let Papyrus do so.

As it turned out Papyrus was almost as a good a cheater as him, almost. But Edge had _years_ of practice cheating even when it was dangerous to do so (anyone proven to be cheating back home would’ve been beaten up by everyone in Grillby’s bar. Which for him might’ve ended with him dust, or at least them figuring out how little physical durability he had which would’ve been a death sentence anyway). But the danger had always made it more thrilling. But even without that thrill this was turning out to be more fun than he’d first thought it would be.

“You guys are so much better at this game than I am,” Blueberry complained after he lost for the umpteenth time in a row. With both of them cheating it was impossible for him to win even with luck. “But at least you guys are getting along, so that’s good.” Blueberry smiled warmly at them.

“Oh sorry bro,” Papyrus said shooting Edge a guilty look.

Edge had to admit he felt a little bad too. “Oh yeah, sorry ‘bout that,” he said.

“No don’t worry about it, I’ve always been bad at cards,” Blueberry said waving off their concern. “I’m just happy that my two favourite people are finally friends and getting along and having fun together.”

Edge froze at being called one of Blueberry’s favourite people. He hadn’t expected anything like that. Surely it couldn’t actually be true though, could it? Blueberry didn’t really care about him _that_ much, did he? He was just saying that to make Edge happy, right? But true or not it felt nice, even if his doubts were stressful.

“You okay?” Blueberry asked placing a hand on his arm.

“Yeah, I’m uh fine,” he said nodding his head a little.

While Blueberry busied himself with shuffling the deck for the next game Edge tapped the table to grab Papyrus’ attention. Then hoping Papyrus really was like him and could understand sign language, he quickly signed, ‘ _let him win_ ’ referring to Blueberry.

Papyrus apparently did understand as he nodded signing back a quick, ‘ _of course_ ’ and a thumbs up.

After that they both started cheating in order to let Blueberry win, much to his delight. Of course they didn’t let him win every round else even he would be able to catch on to what they were doing, but he did win the majority.

They played like that for several hours. It was enjoyable.

“Well that was fun, but we have to go back to sentry duty tomorrow so we should probably head to bed now,” Blueberry said once it dark out. “And thank you guys for letting me win so much.”

“We didn’t…” Edge began but Blueberry cut him off with a pat on the arm.

“I’m not stupid, I know I’m bad at cards. And I also know both of you guys were probably cheating from the very beginning.”

“Oh uh… if you knew why didn’t say anything?” Papyrus asked.

“Because you and Edge were finally getting along in your competition to try to out cheat each other. And you both were having so much fun I didn’t want to ruin it. I would of course never cheat under any circumstances, but if you guys want to that’s fine as long as no one’s actually getting hurt by it,” Blueberry said ignoring both of their surprised looks. “Anyway it really is time for us to go to bed.”

 “’Kay g’night then.” Edge shrugged, he’d just have to accept this as another one of Blueberry’s strange traits.

“Wait,” Blueberry said lightly grabbing his wrist before he could head towards the couch, his usual sleeping spot. “You can share my bed with me again tonight if you want.”

“Wait, what?”

“I know you weren’t really aware of it last night but we shared the bed and if you want we could do it again.”

“But why?”

“In case you have another nightmare or something, it has to be more comfortable than the couch anyway. Don’t worry there’s plenty of room for both of us.”

Edge couldn’t lie to himself, Blueberry’s bed had been the most comfortable thing he’d ever been on and he’d love to sleep on it again. And if he did have another nightmare it would be nice to have Blueberry close by. A quick glance at Papyrus confirmed that he wasn’t upset nor surprised by the idea, so there wasn’t any real reason to decline.

“Sure I guess, let’s do it,” he said, it wasn’t like he had anything to lose by doing so.

“Yippee!” Blueberry exclaimed almost jumping for joy as he took Edge’s hand and started leading him towards the stairs and his room. “This is going be so much fun, it’ll be like a sleepover only not really. And Paps is going to read us a bedtime story and it’s going to be awesome.”

A ‘sleepover” and a ‘bedtime story’? Bother were terms Edge had never heard before. A sleep over what? And what was the difference between a normal story and a bedtime story, and why was there an important distinction between them?

He didn’t have much time to ponder any of that as he was practically dragged up the stairs to Blueberry’s room. Once there they both quickly got ready for bed and lay down next to each other on the bed, maybe a bit closer than was necessary. It made Edge a little nervous but Blueberry smiled at him with a reassuring touch on his arm.

“Okay what story do you want Sans?” Papyrus asked. He was standing in the doorway as he’d followed them in.

“I don’t know, what story do you want Edge?” Blueberry asked turning to Edge as if he would know how to answer that question.

“I don’t even know what the point of all this is,” he said.

“Paps is going to read us a bedtime story, it’s fun I know you’ll like it,” Blueberry said.

“Why though?”

“To help us fall asleep, I don’t really need it, and I guess you probably don’t either but it’s still fun. So what story do you want to listen to, even though you probably don’t know which ones we have. Paps why don’t you just chose a random one?”

Papyrus shrugged in response before heading over to the bookshelf and randomly selecting one of the many books on it. He then made his way back over to the bed and sat down on the chair next to it.

The book he’d grabbed was simply titled ‘Fairy Tales’. The fairy tales in this world were probably not as violent as the ones in Edge’s world, even though he’d never been a fan of the ones in his world and didn’t know much about them. So he probably wouldn’t be able to compare them much.

Papyrus opened to a random one somewhere in the middle and started reading. It turned out to be about a fish girl who lived in the ocean and somehow fell in love with a prince monster who lived on land despite the fact that they’d never actually met. It was possibly one of the dumbest stories Edge had ever heard, but it was kind of fascinating in its inanity.

About half way through Blueberry drifted off to sleep after slipping his hand into Edge’s. Seeing him asleep Papyrus closed the book and was about to get up and leave before Edge interrupted him.

“Finish it,” he said his voice quiet so as not to wake Blueberry.

“You really want me to finish? I didn’t think this kinda of thing would appeal to you,” Papyrus said also speaking softly.

“It doesn’t, I just wanna know how it ends. Besides I already sat through this much might as well sit through the rest.” He suspected that it would end in some disgustingly sappy way, but he didn’t like leaving things half done.

“All right then, whatever you say,” Papyrus said with a shrug before opening the book again.

As it turned out it did end in a disgustingly sappy way, the prince monster fell in love with the fish girl despite the fact that his princely status probably could’ve gotten him any number of better people. And they ended up living happily ever after on the land despite the fact the fish girl should’ve belonged in the water with the rest of her people. Overall it was the most unrealistic story Edge had ever heard.

“That was really dumb,” he scoffed.

“Yeah, most fairy tales are,” Papyrus replied. “But that’s why everyone likes them.”

Papyrus closed the book once more and placed it back in its spot on the bookshelf. “G’night then I guess,” he said.

“G’night,” Edge replied automatically.

Papyrus gave him a surprised but pleased look before leaving, gently closing the door behind him. Once he was gone Edge cuddled a little bit closer to Blueberry who was still holding his hand.

Blueberry looked happy even when he was sleeping. Not surprising since he looked happy almost all the time. Before Edge came along he’d probably never had any reason to feel unsafe or unhappy.

Edge wanted nothing more than to stay with him in this world forever, but he couldn’t. He didn’t belong here with everyone who was so much nicer and happier than him. Not to mention he’d put Blueberry in untold amounts of potential danger when he’d teleported with him to another universe, and might do it again someday. So he had to leave.

Blueberry would be sad when he left but it was for the best. With how positive he always was he’d get over it quickly and probably see the sense in it.

Of course Edge could and would visit every so often, there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t do so. But he couldn’t stay here in a place he didn’t belong. And he couldn’t bring Blueberry with him anyplace. Knowing he’d see a lot less of Blueberry in the future filled him with sorrow that he would just have to get over.

He could stay for a few more days though, no harm in that. As he drifted off to sleep he promised himself that he wouldn’t say anything to Blueberry about leaving until it was time to go. It would be easier for everyone that way.


	27. Can't Stay

Over the next week or so they returned to their normal lives from before their adventure to another world. The biggest difference was that Edge now seemed a lot more relaxed around Papyrus and would help Blueberry cook lunch and dinner (he never woke up early enough to help with breakfast even with them sleeping in the same bed).

Blueberry couldn’t have been prouder of him. Seeing Edge finally becoming friends with Papyrus was possibly one of the greatest things ever. It was such a joy to see Edge become more comfortable and happy in general.

But despite all that there were times when Edge would get lost in thought about something. Blueberry had no idea what but he could tell it wasn’t good from the way Edge would tense up the way he always did when he started stressing. So whenever he saw Edge like that he made sure to distract him, even though that probably didn’t really ever fix whatever the problem was. But when Blueberry asked him about it Edge would always lie and say it was nothing. Maybe Papyrus would know something about it.

“Hey Blueberry, I need to talk to ya ‘bout something real quick,” Edge said.

It was almost time for Blueberry’s shift as a sentry to end. As Edge napped he’d been considering talking to Alphys when he went to go see later about Edge getting hired on as a sentry as well since he was always with Blueberry during work anyway. Edge would of course probably nap through most of his shift, but Papyrus did that too and nobody other than Blueberry seemed to care.

“What is it?” Blueberry gave Edge his brightest smile as he walked over to him.

Edge looked worried and stressed, which in turn worried Blueberry too. Maybe he was finally ready to talk about whatever’s been bothering him. Whatever it was Blueberry was determined to make Edge feel better about it.

“Well I don’t really know how to say this,” Edge said, his body visibly stiffening due to his stress. Soon if Blueberry didn’t make him feel better he might start pacing. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I can’t… stay here.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Surely he couldn’t be saying what Blueberry thought he was saying, could he?

“I mean I can’t stay here in this universe.”

What? No, this wasn’t supposed to be happening. Edge was happy here why did he want to leave?

“But… but why?” Blueberry couldn’t keep the hurt from his voice. Did Edge really want to leave him? They were friends, best friends, Edge couldn’t leave him like that.

“Because I don’t belong here. Everyone here is all nice and stuff and I’m… not. Besides what if I accidentally drag you off to another universe again and it’s not a nice one this time. I know you’re gonna say I won’t and not to worry about it, but knowing how much of a fuck up I’ve been in the past it might happen.”

Always with the self-hate and self-doubt. They were the same person gosh darn it, Edge was every bit as nice and cool as Blueberry was. Why couldn’t he see that? Why must he always put himself down like that? It probably had something to do with his brother being so awful to him, didn’t it?

Suddenly Blueberry was angry, not at Edge but at Edge’s brother. Anger wasn’t an emotion he had a lot of experience with but if he ever got to meet Edge’s brother he’d have a few choice words for him.

“No, you _do_ belong here,” Blueberry said with conviction. “You belong here with your friends and people who care about you.”

Edge paused a few seconds before replying. “I don’t though. If anyone ever found out about even half the stuff I’ve done they’d hate me, especially your brother. So I can’t stay.”

“But… but where would you even go?”

“I don’t know, home I guess. And I kinda wanna explore my universe hopping power anyway, so…” Edge trailed off with a shrug.

“But you could do that with me. We could explore your power together, it’ll be fun.”

“I can’t. What if we end up in a dangerous world and you get hurt because of it?” (What if Edge got hurt because of it and Blueberry wasn’t there to help him?) “Beside your brother really would hate me if I did that, he specifically asked me not to.”

“Well then we could bring Paps too. I’m sure he’d love to see another universe.” Blueberry couldn’t let Edge do this to himself. Besides he wanted to explore Edge’s universe hopping power anyway, together with him.

“Nah, that wouldn’t work, I still wouldn’t… belong here.” Edge was staring at the ground as he spoke, refusing to meet Blueberry’s eyes. “I can visit occasionally and stuff, so it’s not like this has to be goodbye forever or anything.”

“But… but…” Blueberry didn’t want Edge to visit occasionally, he wanted him to stay, forever.

It hurt. Edge wanting to leave him hurt more than he would’ve ever thought it would. Edge _needed_ him. He made Edge happy and calmed him down when he was stressed out, so why did Edge what to leave him?

No, he wasn’t going to let Edge leave and if he insisted then well Blueberry would just have to find a way to stop him. Edge just needed a reminder of how much Blueberry cared about him and then he would want to stay.

“I uh guess I gotta go now,” Edge said before Blueberry could say anything or move close enough to hug him. “I’ll see ya later.”

Edged started gathering his magic to teleport. Knowing this was his last chance to stop him Blueberry stepped forward and grabbed his wrist. “No…” he began but was cut by the crushing blackness of the teleport that he was too late to stop.

This time the teleport seemed even worse than the other two times, if that was possible. It left him feeling dizzy and lightheaded as they were dumped into yet another alternate universe.

“Oh my gosh Blue, why the fuck did you do that?” Edge’s tired and strained voice chased away Blueberry’s dizziness.

“Because I couldn’t let you teleport off and leave me like that,” Blueberry said.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, I’ll fix it… promise. Jus’ don’ go anywhere,” Edge managed to mumble before passing out, collapsing into Blueberry’s arms.

“Oh Edge why did you do this?” Blueberry sighed to himself as he gently lay Edge against a nearby tree. “Why do you want to leave me?” He slumped down next to him full of despair not sure what he should do next.

Everything had been going so well. Edge and Papyrus were finally friends. Edge seemed like he was finally allowing himself to be happy, most of the time anyway. But apparently he hadn’t been as happy as he had seemed.

Blueberry should’ve known something was up and should’ve made sure he felt like he belonged. No, he had known something was bothering Edge but he hadn’t pursued it as much as he should’ve. He should’ve done something, let Edge know how important he was to him.

Guilt and sorrow were also emotions he wasn’t very familiar with, even more so than anger. He’d never felt like something bad was his fault before.

This probably wasn’t entirely his fault either. But he no amount of logical thinking would shake the feeling that if he had done something different he might’ve been able to stop Edge from teleporting. Or that he should’ve done something that made sure Edge never even thought of leaving in the first place.

But on the bright side he was here with Edge so everything could still be fixed. Edge would for sure be able to get them back home so that wasn’t a concern, and when he did Blueberry would find a way to make him stay. So this was no time to mope, he had to stay positive and figure out what to do next.

Standing up he surveyed his surroundings. They were of course in the same spot they’d been in back home: Snowdin forest close to the sentry station near the Ruins.

Most of the nearby trees bore claw marks similar Edge’s when he got mad or stressed. And there were a _lot_ of them, quite a few of them looked old like they’d been there for years. Meaning there was a high chance that this might be Edge’s home world. Not a happy thought.

Okay all right, what did he know about Edge’s world? It was dangerous and monsters were mean to each other. Edge had had to kill on multiple occasions in order to survive. And this world’s version of Papyrus was a horrible person. All that meant he had to be very careful in what he did and said around other monsters.

So what should he do now? He had absolutely no idea.

He couldn’t go to Edge’s house; Papyrus would be there. But he couldn’t just sit here and wait for Edge to wake up either. And even if he did they would need something to eat and Edge would need plenty of rest before he could teleport again. Also sitting around and doing nothing went against his very nature.

So maybe he’d go into go into Snowdin and scout around a little. Maybe this wasn’t Edge’s world after all. Even though he had said home was where he might go, so it probably was. It might not be a very good idea but it was better than doing nothing.

What about Edge though? If this was his world carrying him into town probably wasn’t smart. So he’d have to leave him somewhere safe, but where?

Walking over to the sentry station Blueberry saw that it too was covered in claw marks as well as looking older and more beat up than the one Blueberry knew. It and the surrounding trees were a sad sight. Edge only clawed things when he was upset, all these claw marks were a testament of who even knew how many years of distress. Why would he want to come back here if it upset him so much?

Underneath it was a mess, with empty mustard bottles and various other kinds of garbage (ugh, it was even grosser than Papyrus’ sentry station). But underneath the garbage was a tattered old blanket and pillow, exactly what Blueberry had been looking for. Papyrus kept a blanket and pillow at his station, (for naps, much to Blueberry’s disapproval) so it made sense that Edge would too. Even though the blanket was a lot thinner and more torn up than he’d been hoping for but it would have to do.

He ran back over to where Edge still lay unconscious against a tree. Scooping him up he carried him over to the sentry station.

“I’m going to leave you here for a little bit while I go see what’s what. I’ll be back soon,” he said despite the fact that Edge wouldn’t hear him.

Very few people came all the way out here in Blueberry’s world, hopefully that would hold true here as well. And even if they did hopefully they wouldn’t see Edge sleeping underneath the sentry station, or at the very least think nothing of it.

After clearing out the garbage as best as he could he made a make shift bed underneath the sentry station. “I’ll be back real soon, I promise,” he said giving Edge a kiss on the forehead before wrapping him in the blanket under the sentry station.

Then with no small amount of nervousness he stood up and started making his way towards Snowdin. Hopefully when he got there it would turn out that maybe this place wasn’t so bad after all.


	28. Underfell Snowdin

Walking towards Snowdin Blueberry stayed off the path but close enough that he could see it, in case someone came down it. He wanted as few people as possible to see him.

Maybe going to Snowdin was a dumb idea, maybe he should just stay with Edge and wait for him to wake up. But no he wanted to make sure this was Edge’s world. There was a possibility that all this worry would be for nothing, even though he doubted it.

But then again maybe Edge’s world wouldn’t be so bad. He didn’t really know all that much about it since Edge didn’t talk about it very often. So he’d be careful and just look around some, he didn’t even have to go into town yet.

Once he reached the outskirts of town he saw that this place was different from his Snowdin. There were several monsters milling about, not that that didn’t happen in his world, but these monsters seemed to have a purpose. The way they stood and carefully watched each other made it look like they were on guard for danger or something. They also all wore dark colours, there wasn’t a hint of even a single light colour anywhere on their clothing or their buildings. The closest they got was gray.

Standing just inside the tree line no one seemed to notice him. But he still felt a little self-conscious about his bright blue gloves and scarf. If anyone saw him he’d stand out like a sore thumb, probably not a good thing since these monsters were supposed to be mean and vicious. But it’d be fine as long as no one saw him.

“Hey Sans, that you?” a loud inquisitive voice came from behind him.

Jumping he used his hands to muffle the squeak of surprise that escaped him. Turning around he saw a blue bunny monster with sharp teeth and a jagged scar where one of his eyes should be. Like everyone else his clothing entirely consisted of darks colours, mostly black.

Blueberry hadn’t considered how much he resembled Edge when he’d decided to come out here. And now he wasn’t sure what to do. Should he try to pretend to be Edge? Edge had said he was considered strong in this world so maybe it was a good idea to try to use that reputation for protection.

So quickly before the other monster could get a good look at his face (and lack of sharp teeth) he pulled his scarf up to cover mouth. He probably looked kind of stupid but being a stranger here might not be a good idea, better to have people think he was strong based off Edge’s reputation.

“The fuck are you wearing? I’ve always known you had bad fashion sense but this takes it to a whole new level,” the bunny said.

“None of your business,” Blueberry replied in his best imitation of Edge. All things considered he did a pretty good job, they were the same person after all so their voices were already similar. All he had to do was lower his pitch and try to sound and look grumpy.

“Also where the fuck have you been? It’s been ages, people been saying you’ve finally been dusted by somebody.”

“None of your fucking business,” Blueberry said regretting the fact that he had to swear. Swearing was rude but Edge did it, especially when he was mad. So as long as he was pretending to be him he would have to too.

“Of course, I can’t say I really missed you or your annoying ass attitude,” the bunny said with a scowl. “Your idiot brother did though, maybe now that you’re back we won’t have to listen to his annoying tirades anymore.”

Blueberry froze, he hadn’t thought about what would happen if Edge’s brother found out about him. From what little Blueberry knew about him he wasn’t somebody he wanted to meet anytime soon.

“You better not fucking tell him I’m back.” One thing Blueberry didn’t have to fake was his nervousness. He’d never been this nervous his whole life. Like Edge he tried to hide it beneath a veneer of anger. But unlike Edge his anger was nothing but a façade. In truth part of him regretted coming out here and wished he’d just stayed with Edge.

“What you think I wanna deal with his bullshit? No fuck that shit. But I do wanna be there when he finds you and gives ya what you’ve got coming.” The bunny seemed pleased by the prospect of watching Blueberry get beat up or whatever Edge’s brother would want to do to him. It made Blueberry feel ill, how could anyone take pleasure in seeing another in pain?

“Yeah well, why don’t ya fuck off before I make ya.” Blueberry punctured his words with a growl. It wasn’t nearly as intimidating at Edge’s but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been either. It at least got the message across.

“Yeah whatever be a dick,” the bunny huffed before turning away. “Can’t wait to see the Captain beat the living shit outta ya,” he mumbled as he walked away.

As soon as he was gone Blueberry dropped his act and retreated deeper into the forest heading back to where he’d left Edge. He wanted to run and hide and cry to his big brother who’d always been there protect him. He wanted to be back home and curl up on the couch with Edge with Paps next to them. But he couldn’t do that until Edge woke up and recovered enough to teleport them back.

Blueberry had never been in any real danger before, and even if he had been he’d always had his big brother to protect him. He’d never had to consider that somebody might want to kill him and that they might succeed. Suddenly Edge’s nervousness made a lot more sense, he’d lived in this world his whole life.

But wait no, Blueberry _couldn’t_ be a coward. One day when he was a top tier Guardsmen he’d be facing danger all the time. He’d been training to be a Royal Guardsmen for several years now, thus he knew how to fight and defend himself. He wasn’t a baby anymore; he didn’t need Papyrus to protect him because he could take care of himself. And he could take care of Edge too.

By the time he reached the sentry station again he was almost his usual cheery self. The fact that they were in a dangerous universe and Edge’s brother might come looking for them still lay heavy on him but he knew he could take it. As a future Royal Guardsmen it was his duty to protect Edge and he was going to uphold that duty no matter what.

Edge was of course still asleep right where Blueberry had left him, underneath the sentry station.

“Don’t worry Edge, everything’s going to be all right,” he said more for his own sake than Edge’s. “I’ll protect you until you wake up and then you can take us back home and then I’ll find a way to convince you to stay with me.”

He slumped down on the ground with his back against a tree. He positioned himself so that he could see both Edge and the path.

Now that he knew for sure that they were in Edge’s world what should he do? The safest thing would be to sit here and wait for Edge to wake up, but it was past lunch time and he needed food. Edge would also need something to eat when he woke up.

But to get food he’d have to go into town again. He had some gold on him which would probably be enough to buy something from the store. Gold would be the same in all universes, right?

But then there was the fact that he’d have to interact with more people. He could pretend to be Edge again; his act had fooled that bunny monster. And as long as he was in and out as fast as he could it would probably be fine. He could even borrow Edge’s coat for a better disguise.

Despite being reluctant to disturb Edge it wouldn’t wake him. So he quickly pulled Edge out and got the coat off before wrapping him in the blanket again, returning him to the makeshift bed.

Slipping the coat on he pulled his gloves off and pocketed them. He then zipped up the coat, pulling the hood on over his head so that the fur would obscure the fact that his teeth weren’t sharp.

It was warm and smelled nice. He’d wanted to borrow it for a while now to see what it felt like. He wished he had a mirror so he could see what he looked like in it, probably an awful lot like Edge if he had to guess.

But he hadn’t put it on for fun so putting his hands in his pockets he set off for Snowdin once more. He again avoided walking on the path, the less people he interacted with the better.

On the outskirts he hesitated for several seconds before entering. Luckily the store he was aiming for wasn’t that far in and no one he walked by seemed inclined to try to talk to him. They did glare at him though, as he walked by he could feel their eyes burning into him. As much as it made him want to cower and run he did his best to ignore it.

Inside the store was a lot dirtier than the one his world. This was always where he went to buy his cooking supplies and much to his approval the couple who ran it always kept it clean and looking good. Obviously whoever ran it in this world didn’t care what their customers thought of the place with how dirty and run down everything looked.

But he didn’t have time to dwell on that. So trying to look natural he went over to the cereal aisle. He grabbed a few boxes of granola bars, something fast, easy, and cheap.

The cashier he approached was someone he saw around town occasionally: a young mouse lady with a scarf. Her scarf in this world lacked the colour Blueberry was used to seeing and she too had sharp teeth (maybe that was just a thing here). She’d always been nice to him and everyone else she met. But the glare she gave him as he approached made him want to run and hide again.

“You’re back,” she said sounding like that had deeply personally offended her somehow.

Blueberry almost chickened out right then and there, but he was going to be a great Guardsmen one day, he couldn’t let himself be intimated like this. “You gotta a problem with that?” his voice didn’t even shake and sounded almost as irritable as Edge could sometimes get.

“Doesn’t fucking everybody,” she said ringing up his items and demanding payment before bagging them and handing them over.

As soon as he had them he was out the door as fast he could. He had force himself not to sprint to the forest. But as soon as he was past the tree line he ran as fast as he could back to where Edge still lay sleeping.

Once there he considered putting Edge’s coat back on him but decided not to. It was warm and it made him feel a little safer. Edge didn’t need it right now anyway since he was still wrapped in the blanket.

He settled down with his back against a tree again so that he could watch the path and Edge while he slept. He pulled out a couple of the granola bars for his late lunch. They were gross and a little stale but they were food.

Edge was going to be so upset when he woke up. Not with Blueberry but with himself. He was going to think that this happening justified his wanting to leave. And he was going to hate himself for it.

How could Blueberry have let this happen after everything he’d done to try to make Edge happy and help raise his self-confidence? Darn it, he was _supposed_ to make Edge happy that was just what he’d always done. He should’ve gone out of his way to make sure Edge wanted to stay. He should’ve talked to him about it or done more to make sure he knew he was welcome to stay. He should’ve done _something_! But he hadn’t, he’d failed.

He was going to fix this though. When Edge woke up he was going to fix this as soon as they were back home. He was going to fix it and everything would be okay again. He didn’t know how yet but he’d find a way to convince Edge to stay with him and be happy.


	29. I'll Protect You

Edge woke slowly, once more having no idea where he was. He was warm and could feel Blueberry pressed right up against him, they were practically cuddling.

He blinked open his eyes, it was dark but he still recognized the view of the snow and trees. He was underneath the sentry station by the Ruins.

_Fuck!_ He remembered what had happened now. He’d told Blueberry he was going to leave and then he had. Only Blueberry had touched him last second and got dragged along too. Back to his home world.

He was one of the _stupidest_ monsters to ever exist in any universe ever. He should’ve known Blueberry would do something like that. He should’ve moved away first so that Blueberry couldn’t try to touch him. But he’d been in such a hurry to get away from the hurt in Blueberry’s eyes… and now it was too late.

He’d fucked everything up. This was one of the exact reasons he’d wanted to leave. He was the _worst_ friend. In his effort to make sure he _wouldn’t_ put Blueberry in danger he’d done that exact thing.

With a barely contained groan he very carefully slid out from underneath the blanket he and Blueberry were under. It was difficult but he somehow managed to do so without waking Blueberry.

For some reason he wasn’t wearing his coat, Blueberry was. He wondered why but was too stressed about other things to give it much thought right now.

Feeling ill and full of self-loathing he started pacing, occasionally dragging his claws across a tree as he went by. Judging by the lighting it was probably about midnight, meaning they’d been here for a while. At least Blueberry hadn’t gone anywhere, so as long as no one came by they might still be able to come out of this alive.

As he paced he tried _very_ hard not to think about anything. But the pressure kept building until it felt like he was about to explode. He done the _worst_ possible thing. If Papyrus found them they were both dead for sure. And it would be all his fault if Blueberry died. Hopefully, if that did happen Papyrus would kill him first so he wouldn’t have to live with that for even a few minutes.

“Edge?” Blueberry’s voice came from underneath the sentry station.

Edge froze turning to watch as Blueberry crawled out, rubbing his eyes tiredly. With a sigh Edge walked over to him. “I’m sorry,” he said staring down at the ground between their feet.

“It’s okay you don’t have to apologize,” Blueberry said wrapping his arms around him in a warm reassuring hug.

Edge paused for a few seconds before hugging back. It was amazing, even with all of this Blueberry’s hug still made him feel better. He didn’t deserve it though. But despite that he couldn’t bring himself to push Blueberry away.

“I’m so sorry, this was never supposed to happen,” he whispered holding Blueberry as close as he could, wishing with all his heart that this had never happened.

“It’s okay Edge really, everything’s going to be okay,” Blueberry said as they pulled apart. He stayed close though keeping his hand on Edge’s arm.

“It’s not though. Do you have any idea where we are?” Edge said unable to meet Blueberry’s eyes.

“Yeah, we’re in your world. But it’s okay because in a day or two you’ll be able to take us back home.” Blueberry didn’t sound the least bit worried about what might happen in that day or two.

Edge wished he could just do it now, but if he tried he’d probably kill himself. Who knows what would happen if he died during the teleport.

“It’s _not_ going to be fucking okay though,” Edge snapped as he took a step back, separating them. “There’s nothing about this that’s okay or ever will be okay.”

With a frustrated growl he dug his claws into one of the already heavily scarred trees, as deep as he could force them to go. He sunk to the ground dragging his claws down the tree’s face, leaving more deep ugly claw marks. He wondered if he clawed at the tree for long enough if he could eventually get it to fall over, it wasn’t very thick so maybe.

Blueberry sighed as he sat down beside Edge, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Edge refused to look at him though, keeping his gaze focused on the tree in front of him instead.

“It’s okay Edge, really. It’s not as big a deal as you’re making it out to be.” Blueberry’s voice sounded sad. He was supposed to be happy all the time but he was sad, and it was Edge’s fault.

“It is a big deal though. If my brother finds us he’ll kill us… he’ll kill _you_.”

“It’s okay Edge, it’s okay, don’t cry,” Blueberry said making Edge aware of the tears starting to form in the eyes over nothing more than a bad thought (admittedly a bad thought that was all too likely to come true, but a thought nonetheless). He quickly wiped them away with his sweater’s sleeve as he turned his head away from Blueberry.

“That’s not going to happen, I promise,” Blueberry said. “Everything's going to be okay, I’ll protect you.”

“I don’t need protecting. You’re the one who needs protecting. So I should be protecting you. I’ve already done such a stellar job at that so far, haven’t I?” The last part he muttered under his breath hoping Blueberry wouldn’t hear despite their close proximity.

“You have, and you know what we can protect each other,” Blueberry said, his voice at last returning to its normal happy tone despite their surroundings. “You’re pretty strong and I’m pretty strong too, together we should be fine. Your brother shouldn’t be able to find us and if he does we should be able to fight him off together, without either of us dying.”

Edge sighed feeling exhausted beyond belief as he turned to look at Blueberry’s smiling face. He was so positive about everything, even life and death situations. How was it possible for them to be the same person?

“Why are you wearing my coat anyway?” he asked.

“Oh, I borrowed it so that when I went into Snowdin to get some food I could pretend to be you since I figured you had a reputation so no one would bother me. It worked too.”

“Wait what!? You went into Snowdin?”

“Yeah, I had to get something to eat. And I knew you’d need to eat something too. So I used the gold I always carry around to get some granola bars. They’re kind of gross, and given the right ingredients I could make something a thousand times better but they’re filling at least.” Blueberry spoke as if what he’d done hadn’t been the least bit dangerous. Even though pretending to be Edge _had_ probably made it less so. Newcomers weren’t welcome here, and a newcomer looking so much like him would’ve caused quite a stir.

“Who all saw you?” Edge had to resist the urge to stand up and start pacing again. If the wrong person saw Blueberry and thought he was Edge then it would only be a matter of time before Papyrus came looking for them.

“Just the cashier lady at the store and a blue bunny guy I didn’t know. And I guess a couple people I walked by but they didn’t seem too impressed by me.”

“Did you talk to anyone?” Edge couldn’t believe Blueberry’s disguise could’ve held up through a conversation.

“Yeah, the bunny guy and the cashier girl a little, they were… not very nice. But my act had them completely fooled. I even said a bad word and growled to complete the illusion,” Blueberry said with a proud smile. “If I wasn’t going to be a Royal Guardsmen I’d be a great actor.”

“You swore, really? And growled?” Edge couldn’t picture Blueberry doing either of those things. And under almost any other circumstances it would’ve been hilarious.

“Yeah, the bunny guy was being kind of nosy so I told him F off. I didn’t want to because it’s very rude to swear but I know it’s what you would’ve done so I did it anyway. And then I growled at him like you sometimes do when you get mad at somebody. It wasn’t as good as yours but I still thought it was pretty decent. You want to hear?”

“Yeah sure go ahead.” Edge needed to see or more accurately hear this to believe it. He could still couldn’t even imagine Blueberry doing something like that.

“Okay,” Blueberry said clapping his hands a little before taking a deep breath and growling.

It surprisingly wasn’t that bad. It even sounded a little like Edge’s, though not quite as menacing. It was at least close enough that somebody who didn’t know him well might’ve been fooled by it. And hearing it come from Blueberry of all people despite everything else was funny. It was funny enough that even though Edge was stressed and exhausted he still laughed a little.

“Did you like it?” Blueberry asked. “I tried to make it sound as much like yours as possible. I know it’s not perfect but I think I did a pretty good job.”

“Yeah, it was pretty good, I liked it.” Edge wished he could come up with a joke or pun to throw Blueberry’s way but his mind was running too slow.

“Yippee,” Blueberry said with a huge grin as he clapped his hands again. “Anyway I guess I should give you your coat back now.”

“Nah, you can keep wearing it for now if you want.”

“I would because it is very warm and comfy but you look kind of weird without it. And besides its your coat anyway so here you go.” Blueberry slipped the coat off and handed it to Edge.

Still fighting sleep Edge put it back on. He had to admit he’d felt a little weird without it too. And it was warm and comfy.

“Anyway you look very tired so we should probably go back to sleep now.” Blueberry stood up and taking Edge’s hand, helping him stand too before leading him back to the sentry station.

They slipped back under the old blanket he’d always kept there for when he knew he could get away with a nap. The blanket being as small as it was and the single pillow meant they were pressed right up against each other again, practically cuddling. But Edge didn’t mind, Blueberry was warm and having him so close was comforting. His last thought before drifting off was wishing that they could always sleep like this.


	30. Mistakes

The next day when he awoke Blueberry was still lying next to him. Judging by the light it was at least midmorning and Blueberry was already awake.

“Good morning Edge,” Blueberry greeted him with a smile.

“’Morning Blueberry. There any reason you haven’t actually gotten up yet?” he asked. Blueberry normally got out of bed as soon as he woke up.

“I didn’t want to risk waking you by moving and it’s not like there was anything I needed to get up for anyway. And besides I was really comfortable and your warm. But I guess since you’re awake now too it’s probably time to get up.”

Before Edge could try to protest (he wanted to stay like that thank you very much) Blueberry moved away, taking his warmth with him. With a sigh Edge got up too.

He still couldn’t believe that he had actually brought Blueberry to his world. It would’ve probably been better if he had chosen to go to a random world first instead of deciding to see what was up in his. Even then it would’ve been fine if Blueberry hadn’t tagged along.

“Here, they’re gross but they’re food,” Blueberry said handing him a box of granola bars.

Edge was hungry enough that he didn’t care if they gross as long as they were food. Besides he was used to eating shitty food like this, it was his universe after all.

As they ate Blueberry sat close enough to him that their shoulders were touching. He appreciated the closeness, it distracted him a little from his dark thoughts.

“So what are we going to do now?” Blueberry asked once they were finished.

“I need to take you back, but…” Even with all the sleep he’d just had his magic hadn’t fully recovered yet. He could try it anyway, but using too much magic could be fatal. And as much as he hated himself right now he was Blueberry’s only ticket home. If the teleport killed him there was no guarantee that Blueberry would make it anyway.

“That’s okay,” Blueberry assured him patting his arm. “I wouldn’t want you to try right now anyway. But what are we going to do while we wait?”

“I don’t know.”

It wasn’t like they could go anywhere. In fact, it might be a good idea to go deeper into the woods and further away from the path. Almost no one ever came up here but if they did and saw them, there’d be trouble.

“Maybe we could…” Blueberry trailed off. “You know what I don’t know either. Snowdin didn’t seem like a very friendly place from what I saw of it yesterday. And I don’t really want to risk running into your brother anyway so I guess we’re stuck here.”

“Sorry I fucked up so bad.”

“It’s okay Edge really. It was my fault for not doing more to make you want to stay.”

There was probably nothing Blueberry could’ve done that would’ve made him want to stay more. The problem was he didn’t belong there and no matter how much he cared for Blueberry that wouldn’t change.

But of course Blueberry still wasn’t mad at him and didn’t want to stop being his friend even though he pretty much inarguably deserved that by now. His budding friendship with Blueberry’s brother was probably over and done with though. A shame since he had kind of started to enjoy hanging out with him. But he didn’t deserve to have friends after this anyway.

He tried to stand up to start pacing but Blueberry pulled him back down with a gentle hand. “Why don’t you try to take a nap? So that maybe you’ll recover your magic faster,” he said.

“What are you going to do then?” Edge asked.

“I don’t know. Stand guard I guess. I have a pretty good view of the path from here and if anyone comes I’ll wake you and then we can decide what to do from there. It’ll be like sentry duty only without any puzzles.”

Blueberry had a point napping would help him recover faster. Even though sleeping with these thoughts running through his mind would be difficult.

“Wait here,” Blueberry said before running over and grabbing the blanket they had slept under last night. When he returned he draped it over Edge before going under it himself. He then cuddled up right next to Edge. “You can sleep on me if you like.”

“I… okay, just be sure to wake me if you see anyone coming down the path,” Edge said before cuddling up against Blueberry, resting his head on his shoulder. Underneath the blanket he could feel Blueberry pull off one of his gloves before slipping his hand into Edge’s.

Comforted and distracted by all this contact Edge allowed himself to fall asleep. Despite his dark thoughts he didn’t have any dreams, nightmare or otherwise.

 

He was awoken a few hours later by Blueberry frantically shaking his shoulder. “Edge wake up, someone’s coming,” he whispered.

Edge snapped awake immediately. Looking down the path he saw that several someones were coming. And not just any old someones but members of the Royal Guard being led by the very person Edge wanted to see the least: his brother. They were still a fair way down the path and hadn’t spotted Edge and Blueberry… yet.

Edge felt a bolt of panic run through him as his mind suddenly went blank. “Hide,” he whispered grabbing Blueberry’s wrist and dragging him behind the sentry station.

Why was his brother _here_? What if he had heard Edge was back in town and was looking for him. Fuck, they were so screwed.

“Whoa hey, it’s okay. Maybe he just wants to talk or something,” Blueberry whispered. Papyrus want to talk, yeah right.

“Sans,” Papyrus’ loud grating voice rang out from what was now undoubtedly a short distance away. “I heard from a little birdie that you were back in town. And knowing your dumb lazy ass you’re probably hiding around here somewhere like a fucking coward.”

Edge was angry now too. Papyrus almost never failed to say all the right things to make him both furious and afraid at the same time. Part of the reason Papyrus’ insults made him so mad was because most of the time they were true, he _was_ dumb (else Blueberry wouldn’t be here), lazy and a coward. But just because it was true didn’t mean he wanted it pointed out to him.

“Edge I think maybe you should…” Blueberry began in a whisper before Papyrus’ louder now much closer voice interrupted him.

“Sans get your fucking dumb ass out here,” he yelled. “Or are you going to run away like the weak fucking coward you are. You really are a worthless piece of shit. The world would be a much better place if you were dust.”

His boiling rage suddenly overpowering his fear (and common sense) Edge stood up with a growl. Blueberry tried to grab his sleeve to pull him back down but was too late.

“Why don’t you fucking say that to my fucking face you fucking piece of shit,” Edge growled at Papyrus who was standing a few feet away. The Dog Guard consisting of Greater Dog, Doggo, Dogamy, and Dogaressa stood further back. They looked like they were anticipating watching a good show.

“Good to know my taunts can still get you all riled up,” Papyrus said. “Now care to tell me where the fuck you’ve been? I’ve searched the entire fucking Underground for your worthless ass and now you just show up out of fucking nowhere back at Snowdin and don’t even have the fucking decency to return home.”

“That’s none of your fucking business.” Edge punctured his words by digging his claws into a nearby tree wishing it was Papyrus’ face instead.

“How many fucking times have I told you not to fucking talk to me like?”

“I’ll talk to you however I damn well please.” Edge walked around the sentry station (Blueberry still underneath it) so that it would be would be behind him.

Deep down he knew what he was doing was monumentally stupid, but was too mad to care much about that right now. Papyrus was going to hurt him and has much as he dreaded that he was mad enough that his mind wasn’t working properly.

With a menacing growl of his own Papyrus stepped forward as well. “You want to run that by me again?” he said grabbing Edge roughly by the neck lifting him off the ground.

“G-go fuck yourself.” Edge’s voice shook as he desperately tried to hold on to his anger over the sudden return of fear.

“You’re being awfully brave today,” Papyrus said squeezing Edge’s neck hard enough to hurt, showing how easy it would be for him to snap it. “Care to tell me why that is?”

It was because Blueberry was close by and Edge needed to protect him. But like the true moron he was Edge hadn’t done a very good job of that when he’d stepped out the way he had. Now that his head was more clear he knew he should’ve teleported them away somewhere. But he hadn’t, and it was too late to change that. He would just have to deal with the consequences and hope Blueberry was smart enough to stay hidden.

He growled as menacingly as he could despite wanting to whimper and beg for mercy instead. All he was doing was making it worse but he didn’t know what else to do. The biggest problem was if he died Blueberry would be stuck here, which would be a death sentence as soon as someone found him.

“Don’t you fucking growl at me you worthless maggot,” Papyrus said summoning a bone attack in his free hand. Edge’s growl cut off with a yelp as Papyrus hit him in the side of his head with it, right near his right eye socket.

He could feel his skull crack as it hit him, his vision blurring and dulling in that eye. It wasn’t enough to kill him but it hurt like hell. A few more hits like that and it would be over though.

“Stop!” a voice yelled as a bone attack from a different source suddenly hit Papyrus’ arm causing him to drop Edge.

Edge hit the snow in a heap. Looking over he saw Blueberry had left his hiding spot to come out and attack Papyrus. His face was wet with tears, but he wasn’t crying anymore. He looked mad, furious even. Edge had never seen him mad before, wasn’t even sure if he was capable of it. But here he was looking like he was ready to kill someone.

“Who the fuck are you? And why do you look like Sans?” Papyrus growled clutching his injured arm to his chest.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. You need to stop being mean to your brother this instant,” Blueberry demanded stomping his foot. “You’re not allowed to hurt him anymore.”

“I’ll hurt his dumb ass as much as I damn well please. He deserves it for disappearing for so long and he knows it.” Papyrus gave Edge a hard kick to the ribs breaking several of them, causing him to almost yelp in pain again as he scrambled away.

“I thought I told you to stop,” Blueberry all but yelled as he summoned a Blaster, firing it at Papyrus who had to take a quick leap back and away from Edge to avoid it. “And he doesn’t deserve it, no one does. He’s your brother you’re supposed to love and respect him, but if you can’t do that then you don’t deserve to be around him anymore. So just go away and leave us alone.”

Edge wasn’t sure what to make of this, he’d never thought Blueberry could be so… demanding. And the pain pounding through his head certainly didn’t help him make any sense of it.

“You’ll pay for that you whelp,” Papyrus growled, sending an attack Blueberry’s way.

Blueberry quickly summoned an attack of his own, using it to block Papyrus’ attack. He let out a cry of surprise as it was obliterated by Papyrus’ attack hitting it. But it had done its job in absorbing the other attack’s energy, leaving Blueberry unharmed.

Edge felt a surge of uncontrollable rage at seeing Papyrus try to hurt Blueberry like that. With a vicious growl he tried to jump to his feet, but was stopped when with an angry growl of his own Papyrus turned on him, firing two more attacks his way. Unfortunately, Edge trying to get to his feet wasn’t in a position where he could easily dodge them, but luckily they weren’t aimed to wound. Instead they hit where his sides would’ve been if he weren’t a skeleton, ripping through his coat and pinning him to the ground. Then to make matters worse, Papyrus used blue gravity magic to pin him as well so he wouldn’t be able to teleport out of it (he’d learned that little trick for the sole of purpose of countering Edge’s teleporting).

“Stay out of this Sans,” he said. “This is between me and your doppelganger. I’ll punish you properly for disappearing when we get back home.”

“Fuck you,” Edge growled trying to rip out one the magical bone attacks pinning his jacket to the ground. But it still burned with Papyrus’ attack magic, touching it even a little felt like he’d put his hand in a fire. And the gravity magic made it feel as if he weighed ten times more than he should.

“Leave him alone you big meanie,” Blueberry said, firing another attack of his own. It hit, but only dented Papyrus’ armor.

“I don’t who you are, or where my worthless brother found an almost exact clone of himself. But it doesn’t matter because I’m about to end your pitiful existence.” Papyrus shot out another attack at Blueberry. And another, and another, and so on, trying to overwhelm Blueberry with sheer attack power.

Blueberry somehow managed to block every single one. A few got close to hitting him but none ever did.

Despite his raising anger at the whole situation Edge couldn’t help but be impressed with Blueberry. He’d never thought Blueberry would be able to stand his ground like that against Papyrus of all people. Papyrus was without a doubt one of the strongest monsters in the Underground, but Blueberry was bravely standing up to him and somehow managing to not get hurt. Of course because he was so busy defending he’d never be able to get a shot of his own in, and Papyrus would eventually wear him down. But it was impressive nonetheless.

As Blueberry continued to defend against everything sent his way, Papyrus seemed to be getting angrier and angrier. His eye was soon blazing dark red, meaning he was putting as much magical energy into his assault on Blueberry as he could. It would only be a matter of time before an attack broke through Blueberry’s defense.

With a growl Edge tried again to pull out one of the bones keeping him pinned to the ground. But it hurt too much and had to stop before it caused permanent damage to his hand. He needed to get out of this somehow. He needed to get out teleport to Blueberry and then teleport them both out to safety. But being both physically and magically pinned it impossible. This realization only made him angrier. Angry enough that he was once more losing his ability to think rationally.

How _dare_ Papyrus do this? How _dare_ he try to hurt Blueberry? How _dare_ he? Papyrus _deserved_ to die for this. And he _was_ going to die for this because Edge was going to _kill_ him.

Without even growling (couldn’t call attention to himself) Edge summoned his Blasters, ten of them. He fired them all directly at Papyrus’ back.

If Papyrus had been paying attention he might’ve been able to dodge or at least block some of the damage. But he’d discounted Edge as a threat and had eyes only for Blueberry. As a result, he got hit by the full force of ten Blaster beams at once, shattering his armor instantly. From there the beams easily carved through his spine and back of his ribcage, hitting his soul almost directly.

Papyrus’ only had a few moments to scream in shock, pain, and probably anger too before his soul shattered under the Blasters’ concentrated beams. The forest descended into dead silence as Papyrus’ body fell to dust, the harsh sound of the Blasters firing fading before they dissipated.

Papyrus’s death caused the bones and magic keeping Edge pinned to dispel. Allowing him to scramble to his feet and stare in shock at the pile of dust that had once been his brother and tormentor.

Papyrus was… dead. Edge had killed him. Despite the evidence before him, part of him doubted that he’d done it. He’d had never wanted to kill his brother before, he’d never liked him but had also never wanted him dead, until now. Edge hadn’t meant to kill him, well no he had but he hadn’t even considered it until almost the exact moment he’d done it.

After what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds Blueberry’s soft subdued voice broke the silence. “Edge, you okay?” he asked. His eye lights had shrunk down to pinpricks as he also stared in shock at the pile of dust and broken armor.

“I… um…” Edge wasn’t sure if he was okay. He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the fact that his brother was now dead, and by his hand no less.

They were interrupted by a growl coming from one of the Dog Guard that had watched the whole thing from the side lines. Probably hoping to see Papyrus destroy them. Glancing their way, it was obvious that they were unhappy about having their show spoiled.

Edge couldn’t take all four of them at once not even with Blueberry’s help. Or maybe he could but chances of him surviving were slim.

Meaning it was time to go. They had to get out of there this instant. He quickly closed the distance between himself and Blueberry, being careful to not step in Papyrus’ dust. Taking Blueberry by the hand he teleported them out of there.

He was in such a hurry to get out that didn’t even have a destination in mind when he teleported. If he were smart he would’ve teleported them somewhere in world, to give himself time to recover his magic. Too bad being smart was something he’d never been very good at. The least he could’ve done was aim for Blueberry’s world, but by the time the realized this it was too late.

This time he blacked out even before reaching the other side of the teleport.


	31. Help

This time the teleport lasted _way_ longer than it should’ve, with several minutes of crushing blackness. It got to a point where Blueberry began to wonder if it would ever end or if he were fated to die like this. He felt like his whole body was being squeezed by the nothingness surrounding him. He was barely aware of Edge’s hand in his own, which he clung to with all his might.

But after a while it did end, dumping them in the snow. Blueberry barely managed to catch Edge before he sunk to the ground himself. He felt dizzy and ill, like he might throw up. Not to mention he was still in shock over the previous events.

He’d never been that afraid in his entire life. Or that angry. Seeing poor Edge get hurt had snapped him out of his fear, making him furious instead.

That had been his first real fight and despite everything he was proud of himself. He hadn’t been hit even once, it had been a close call a few times but he’d always managed to block at the last second. But he probably would’ve been hit eventually if Edge hadn’t…

Blueberry had never seen someone fall to dust before. Or heard the sound of a soul shattering. Both were things he hoped to never experience again.

When he’d gone into that fight he hadn’t had any intention of Papyrus dying. He hadn’t even considered how the fight would end. And watching as Papyrus was ripped apart by Edge’s Blasters had been horrifying.

But Edge had been protecting him. He’d gotten over his fear of his brother to protect him. And despite everything Blueberry was glad. Glad that at least they were both still alive.

Having regained his senses Blueberry pulled Edge’s limp body close. There were two holes in his coat from when Papyrus had pinned him to the ground, and Blueberry was pretty sure that some of his ribs were broken from when Papyrus had kicked him. But what drew Blueberry’s eye the most was the crack on the side of Edge’s skull. It was several inches long and looked like it probably hurt, a lot.

“Oh Edge I’m so sorry, I should’ve jumped out sooner.” Blueberry sighed as he pulled off one of his gloves to touch the side of Edge’s face near where the crack was. He froze as soon as he fingers made contact. Edge was cold, cold as the air surrounding them. All monsters were warmed by the magic running through their bodies and souls. And everyone knew that the first sign of a monster falling down was their magic running out, leaving them cold and unconscious.

Fighting sudden panic Blueberry quickly put his glove back on and scooped Edge up in his arms. “Please, please don’t die,” he whispered as he set a face pace for Snowdin. Hopefully this world was a friendly one. It wasn’t his world; Edge obviously hadn’t been thinking very clearly when he’d teleported them.

Of course it made sense that Edge was hurt. Teleporting so soon after the other one and after summoning so many Blasters (Blueberry hadn’t been in a position where he could count them) had to have taken a toll.

Blueberry walked as fast he could, almost running. Silently praying that Edge would be all right. He couldn’t die, not after all this. Even thinking about it made Blueberry feel sick as tears came to eyes.

Reaching Snowdin he paused. What to do? After some thought he decided he would go to the alternate version of himself and Papyrus for help. One of them should be able to teleport them to a healer who would hopefully be able to help Edge.

As he walked he didn’t glance at anyone he passed by. He was too focused on getting Edge some help to notice anyone who wasn’t standing directly in his path.

Once he reached this world’s version of his house he silently prayed that this world was friendly before knocking. If it wasn’t he would probably die and Edge definitely would. But it was worth the risk if it got Edge some much needed medical attention.

The door was almost immediately answered by this world’s Sans. He was dressed similar to Blueberry, matching gloves, scarf, and boots, but dark red instead of blue. The rest of his armor was black, meaning he was dressed in Edge’s colours. Also like Edge he had sharp teeth but none of them were gold or appeared to be false. “Who…” he began, with an understandably confused expression before Blueberry cut him off.

“I know this is probably very weird and confusing but, me and him are you from alternate realities. He can teleport to other dimensions which is why we’re here. Only it takes a lot of magic, and he’s used too much and he’s hurt and in desperate need of medical attention. Please can you help us? I’ll explain more after,” Blueberry said in a rush.

“You guys are me from alternate universes?” Other Sans asked with a frown.

“Yes, I’ll explain after you help him, please.”

“Hmm, how badly is he hurt?”

“I think he might start falling down if we don’t get him some help,” Blueberry said fighting tears. Edge was dying they didn’t have time for this.

“So you’re saying that he’ll probably die in a couple hours.” Other Sans didn’t sound like he cared.

“Yes, so can you _please_ help?”

“Fine, but only because I’m curious about his supposed universe hopping powers. Papyrus, come out here and teleport us to Undyne’s lab.” His voice took on a commanding quality as he turned towards the interior of the house to yell at his brother.

“Right away m’lord,” this world’s version of Papyrus said as he walked into view behind his brother. He wore a black coat similar to Edge’s expect it had more fur, over a dark orange sweater. His teeth were also sharp, one of them was even gold only it was on the opposite side of his mouth as Edge’s false tooth was. Hanging loosely on his neck was a spiked reddish-orange collar with a gold chain hanging halfway down his chest.

He looked at Blueberry with a confused expression. “What’s…” he began before Black Sans interrupted him.

“I’ll explain later, for now take us to Undyne’s lab,” he said.

“Um okay,” he said before lightly touching both their shoulders, teleporting them to the lab.

Blueberry was immediately struck by how different it was to the one he was familiar with. The place was a mess (more of a mess then the one he knew) with various kinds of garbage strewn about the place, and a few traces of… monster dust? Surely that couldn’t be right, it was just normal dirt and dust, he was just imagining things because he was stressed. There were also several tables with leather straps on them clearly intended to restrain monsters of various shapes and sizes. Some of them had more traces of that dust that certainly couldn’t be monster dust on them.

“Undyne make sure he doesn’t fall down,” Black Sans said harshly gesturing to Edge’s unconscious body still in Blueberry’s arms.

“W-who are they?” She asked. She also had sharp teeth and the fins on her face looked like they could probably cut as well. She at least was dressed similarly to how the Undyne Blueberry knew dressed, a white lab coat over a black t-shirt. Though her clothes were dirty and unkempt.

“Doesn’t matter, just make sure he doesn’t die yet. He knows stuff that I want to know,” Black Sans snapped causing Undyne to flinch.

“O-of course s-sir, I-I’ll get right on that,” she stammered.

She reached to take Edge from Blueberry’s arms. Blueberry almost pulled him back, this Undyne didn’t look very nice and he wasn’t sure if he trusted her. But he had no choice, he’d never been good at healing magic so this was Edge’s only chance.

She took him, placing him on one of the thankfully clean tables, and set to work examining him.

“With me,” Black Sans said gesturing for Blueberry to follow him to the other room.

“But…” Blueberry wanted to stay with Edge, make sure he would be all right.

“Now,” Black Sans said with a commanding tone. “You’ll only get in the way here. And you said you’d tell me more once we got him help. I’ve just done precisely that so it’s time for you to tell me what’s going on.”

“Okay…” Blueberry sighed, reluctantly following Black Sans and Papyrus out to the other room. It wasn’t like there was anything more he could do to help right now anyway.


	32. Swapfell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An amazing wonderful person drew some lovely fanart for this story, here: http://insaneinsan101.tumblr.com/post/151379607032/faaanart  
> and here: http://insaneinsan101.tumblr.com/post/151438733072/hhhhh-i-made-more-fic-art-for-this-story

Once the three of them, were in the other room Black Sans stopped. “Okay so now tell me more,” he said. It was obvious that he was used to having his orders followed.

“Well um, what do you want to know?” Blueberry asked. He didn’t want to be here, this other version of him was intimidating and seemed to be mean. He’d much rather stay with Edge and make sure he was going to be okay. But he didn’t have a choice in the matter so he’d just have to be brave and suck it up. They had at least agreed to help Edge even if their reason wasn’t altruistic.

“Everything,” Black Sans said. “How you got here. How his universe hopping power is supposed to work. And most importantly how and why he got it.”

“So he and that other one really _are_ other versions of you?” Papyrus asked.

“According to the cry baby here, yes. Now shut up and let him answer the question.”

Blueberry wanted to protest being called a cry baby but didn’t. He had to stay positive, maybe these guys could become his friends. After all Edge had started out not liking him very much and now they were super close. But even when Edge had been at his worst he had never been nearly as mean as Black Sans was being. But talking to them would at least distract him from his worry for Edge for a little while.

“Well first of all we got here because Edge (that’s my nickname for him) teleported us here. You see what happened was in the other world we were we kind of had fight with someone.” Blueberry didn’t want to say who. “Only in that fight he was injured and there were a few other people who wanted to attack us, but we couldn’t take them all at once. So he teleported us out to here. But because of that he ended up… hurting himself. Do… do you think he’ll be all right?”

If Edge died… Blueberry wasn’t sure he’d be able to take that. They hadn’t even known each other for a super long time, but Blueberry already couldn’t imagine life without him. Another reason Edge wanting to leave had hurt so much.

“Who knows.” Blacks Sans still sounded like he didn’t care even a little about Edge’s fate. “But if Undyne can’t save him then no one can. But continue with your explanation.”

“I’m not really sure how his power works. He says he teleports with the intent to not be wherever he currently is, and when he’s teleporting to a specific universe he also thinks about that universe. But I have absolutely no idea why or how he got that power, he doesn’t know either.”

“Hmm, I guess I’ll have to ask him if he wakes up,” Black Sans said.

“Oh and by the way, my nickname is ‘Blueberry’ so you can call me that if you like,” Blueberry said with a forced smile as he held out his hand. He could do this, he just had to stay positive and everything would be all right.

Black Sans stared at him for a bit before with a shrug accepted his handshake. “Very well, I shall call you Blueberry. You are of course to continue referring to me by my name since I am clearly the superior version and therefore deserve it.”

“Ah but if I were to come up with a cool nickname for you that would be a lot easier, it would be very confusing to call you ‘Sans’ since that’s my name too,” Blueberry said with forced cheerfulness. As much as he wanted to lay down in despair over his situation and Edge being hurt, he wasn’t about to let himself be pushed around by this mean version of himself. So he was going to maintain his positivity and overwhelm Black Sans with kindness if he had to. “So how about I call you… ‘Blackberry’? Since you’re dressed a lot like me except in black.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me? That’s the dumbest nickname I have ever heard, you are absolutely not going to call me that. You are to address me as your lord or by name. The only reason I’m allowing you to call me by name is because you are me and that places you at only slightly below me. You should feel fortunate to be an alternate version of me.” Black Sans said.

Blueberry forced himself to keep a happy expression on his face. He did not like this version of himself, not one bit. He wasn’t normally one to dislike people especially so soon after meeting them, but he just didn’t like Black Sans. The only person he disliked more was Edge’s brother.

Maybe if it wasn’t for all the stress he was currently under he might’ve been able to be more forgiving. But after that fight with Edge’s brother (especially with how it had ended) and Edge hurting himself with his teleport, it was all too much. He just wanted to be home curled up on the couch with Edge, he wanted it so bad he could’ve cried. But that wasn’t an option right now, that would have to wait until Edge recovered, _if_ he recovered. But no, he _couldn’t_ think like that. Edge had to be okay, he just had to. The alternative was unthinkable.

“All right if you insist, I’ll just call you ‘Sans’ then. I guess it doesn’t matter all that much because I’m only going to be here for a few days anyway,” he said trying to sound friendly despite the fact that this was one of the few times in his life when he didn’t feel like being friendly. But he didn’t want to argue or fight with Black Sans, it wouldn’t help any and just make them both upset.

“Good, I am very glad we were able to reach an agreement,” Black Sans said with a smug attitude.

“M’lord…” Papyrus began before he was cut off by Black Sans giving a hard tug on his collar’s chain.

“If you are about to make a joke then you can shut up right now,” Black Sans said.

“How does m’lord know I was about to make a joke?” Papyrus didn’t seem all that bothered by his brother’s rather rude treatment. Of course he was probably used to it. Blueberry suddenly disliked Black Sans a little more. But at least so far he didn’t seem to be afraid of him like Edge was of his brother.

“Because I know you, you always get that look on your face every time you’re about to make a dumb joke.”

“Ooh, m’lord knows me too well,” Papyrus replied.

“Why do you call him that?” Blueberry asked addressing Papyrus. “He’s your brother so why do you call him ‘m’lord’?”

“Because ever since he became Commander of the Royal Guard he seems to think that makes him a lordly noble. And despite his diminutive size he likes to _lord_ that status over people.”

“Shut up Papyrus.” Black Sans said with a growl. “How many times have I told you not to ever mention my height in any way?”

“Well I don’t know sir, with you all the way down there and me all the way up here, it can be hard to hear ya sometimes.”

“Do you _want_ to be punished Papyrus? Because if you keep talking like that you will be,” Black Sans said.

“Maybe I do. Why dontcha try me?” Papyrus said with a smirk, looking down at Black Sans.

“Well then maybe I will.” Despite his smaller size Black Sans glared defiantly up at his brother.

“Go ahead, I’m waiting.”

“Whoa hey,” Blueberry cut in, stepping between them despite his better judgement. “You guys are brothers; you shouldn’t be fighting like this. And you wouldn’t _actually_ try to hurt each other, would you?”

Even after seeing Edge’s brother Blueberry still had trouble imagining any version of himself or Papyrus wanting to hurt their brother. It was such a foreign concept. Why would anyone want to hurt another person at all, let alone one of their own family members?

“No, he won’t hurt me,” Papyrus said with confidence. “He’ll say he will, but m’lord would never hurt his faithful servant, not seriously anyway.”

“I’d hardly call you my ‘faithful servant’ with how insubordinate you are all the time,” Black Sans said crossing his arms, but _not_ contradicting Papyrus. “And I really shouldn’t let you get away with it.”

“But you do because I’m your brother and you…” Papyrus cut off as Black Sans gave his chain another hard pull, almost causing him to lose balance and fall over.

“Shut up, I thought I told you to never talk about that, especially around other people,” Black Sans said giving Blueberry a wary look.

“Hmm, of course m’lord,” Papyrus replied, seemingly unbothered by having his collar’s chain pulled.

Blueberry wasn’t sure he understood what had just happened. Papyrus seemed to be suggesting that they still cared about each other despite their fighting. But it didn’t _look_ like they cared about each other from the way they were fighting, especially with Black Sans’ harsh words towards Papyrus. Whatever their relationship was like it certainly seemed to be confusing.

Luckily before things could get any more confusing Undyne burst through the door looking very excited about something. “He’s you Sans, from a-another universe,” she said addressing Black Sans. “I don’t know how but he’s d-definitely an alternate version of y-you.”

“I know,” Black Sans curtly. “That’s why I don’t want him to die yet, I want to know how he got here.”

“Oh,” Undyne said, voice of disappointment.

“Is he going to be okay?” Blueberry asked, as he was reminded of his worry for Edge. He _needed_ Edge to be okay.

“N-now that I look at you y-you’re another Sans too r-right?” she asked ignoring the question.

“Um yes, but please tell me if my friend is going to be okay.”

“Oh yeah he should be f-fine now, I’ve dealt with extreme cases of magical d-depletion before. All I had to do was inject some more m-magic into him, enough so that he won’t be in danger of f-falling down anymore. How he managed to do that s-seemingly to himself is beyond m-me, but whatever. What I wanna k-know is how you two got here.”

Blueberry felt of flood of relief wash through him at the news that Edge was going to be okay. He hadn’t realized just how tense he’d gotten until he was able to relax once more. Edge was going to be okay, he wasn’t going to die. That was all that mattered.

“He can apparently teleport to other universes,” Black Sans supplied when Blueberry didn’t answer.

“Can I go see him?” Blueberry asked. He needed to go see Edge and touch him and make sure for himself that he was going to be okay.

“Sure I guess,” Undyne said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Blueberry walked back through the door. As he made his way towards where Edge was still lying on the table he did his best to ignore the mess (and the possible monster dust).

Undyne had taken off Edge’s sweater and coat, placing them to the side. Making it possible for Blueberry to see his body for the first time. His ribcage was littered with scars, places where his bones had been broken, in some places what looked like multiple times. His arms two, normally covered up by shirt and coat sleeves, had various scars on them. Knowing about Edge’s world Blueberry shouldn’t have been surprised by this but he was, surprised and saddened.

His new injuries from his fight with Papyrus were also visible. They still looked painful but obviously not life threatening. And Undyne had clearly not thought it worth her time to see to them. But at least he wasn’t in danger of falling down anymore.

Edge’s soul glowed oh so faintly, barely visible in ribcage. It was rude to look at another monster’s soul without their permission but Blueberry couldn’t help himself. It was white like all monster souls and glowed a faint red, the colour of his magic. Its faint glow was probably due to his lack of magical energy at the moment.

Blueberry slipped off his gloves before taking one of Edge’s clawed hands in both of his own. It wasn’t as warm as it normally was but it wasn’t cold either. Meaning Edge was going to get better.

Blueberry felt more tears come to his eyes as he stood there holding Edge’s hand, tears of relief this time. The thought of Edge dying had been too much to bear.

“It’s going to be okay Edge I promise,” he whispered. “You’re going to be okay.”

“Wow you’re disgustingly sentimental.” Black Sans’ harsh voice cut into Blueberry’s awareness.

Looking over he saw that the three of them, Undyne and Papyrus as well, were standing there staring at him. Black Sans looked annoyed while Papyrus and Undyne looked confused. Kind of how Edge had initially been confused every time Blueberry was nice to him.

“He is my friend and I care about him a lot. And I am very happy to see that he’s going to be okay,” Blueberry said trying not to sound defensive.

This world was clearly a mix of Edge’s world and his own. In fact, this world was probably the mean version of his world, similar to how that other world they’d gone to was the nice version of Edge’s. Traveling to other universes was fascinating, now if only they’d come under better circumstances and with Paps.

“Be careful about showing your affection for him,” Papyrus warned. “There’s a lot monsters that wouldn’t think twice about using that to get something from ya. And trust me when I say ya wouldn’t like whatever it is they wanted.”

“I… I’ll be careful,” Blueberry said. How could any world be like that? It was more than scary, it was sickening. “Is it okay if me and him stay at your guys’ place while we wait for him to recover enough to be able to teleport back home?”

Even if they weren’t the friendliest people he’d ever met they were probably better than any alternative. They had at least not been awful to him so far. Even though when Edge woke up there was a very real possibility that things would change. Edge would most likely not going to like them very much and his less than perfect control of his anger might cause problems.

“Of course, you are to stay at my house. Your Edge friend knows stuff that I want to know, that I don’t fancy letting other people in on,” Black Sans said. “As a result once there you two are not to leave the house. And Undyne don’t say a word of them to anybody, the last thing I need is for people coming to my door asking questions about them. I want whatever information they have for myself.”

“O-of course sir, I won’t say a-anything about them at all, I p-promise,” Undyne stammered.

“Good, now Blueberry gather him up and Papyrus teleport us home,” Black Sans commanded.

Much to the other two’s annoyance Blueberry took a couple minutes to get Edge dressed once more. It would be cold out in Snowdin and he deserved some privacy. Though the holes in his jacket would make it less warm, but whatever. As soon as he was done Papyrus teleported them back home to the living room.

The room looked similar, almost the same in fact as the one in Blueberry’s world, but all the colours seemed faded and dull. It didn’t have the same warm inviting atmosphere either. But it made Blueberry aware of how badly he wanted to go home and see his brother again.

He couldn’t despair though. Edge would take them home in a few days, he just had to be patient. He’d stay positive and do his best to befriend this world’s version of himself and Papyrus. The most important thing was that Edge was going to be okay.

“You and him are going to be sleeping in the living room,” Black Sans said. “Papyrus will lend you his blanket and you are welcome to sleep on the couch. If you make a mess of any sort you are to clean it up right away or there will be consequences.”

“Don’t worry I’m a very clean person so you don’t have worry about that. And Edge is too though not as much as me. But still we’ll both be good for however long we end up staying here, I promise.” Blueberry smiled as bright as he could, Black Sans seemed thoroughly unimpressed with it.

He then sat on the couch with Edge still arms, so that now Edge was lying on his lap. Papyrus and Black Sans sat down next to him.

“Okay now you are going to tell me everything you can about your universe,” Black Sans demanded. “And you’re going to answer all my questions about it and whatever else I decide I want to know.”

“Um okay,” Blueberry said. That was something he could talk about, it might even be fun.


	33. Sorry

Edge gradually became aware of himself. His whole body hurt in way he was unfamiliar with, even his soul felt like it was recovering from being run through a juice press. The pain was worse in the side of his head and ribs. He knew there was a reason for that but couldn’t remember what right now.

The next thing he became aware of was somebody warm cuddled right up next to him. Blinking his eyes open he saw it was Blueberry. He was fast asleep looking happy as always.

Being careful not to jostle him too much Edge sat up, looking around the room. It was the living room, but it wasn’t Blueberry’s world or any world he’d been to before. They were lying on the floor underneath a thick tattered blanket. They were using one of the couch pillows as a pillow.

Everything that had happened came back to him a rush. His brother, the fight they’d had and how it had ended. His brother, Captain of the Royal Guard who had been tormenting him in way or another since they were kids, was now dead. And Edge had killed him.

He wondered what was going on in his world now that his brother was dead. Word of what had happened would probably spread fast, in fact all of Snowdin would’ve most likely heard of it by now.

All those years he’d spent being afraid of his brother and letting him walk all over him suddenly seemed pointless. He probably could’ve done that at any time and his torment would’ve been over. But he hadn’t. The thought hadn’t ever occurred to him, even back when Papyrus had first begun turning his insults into physical abuse.

He’d done it solely to protect Blueberry. He’d been protecting Blueberry because of the danger he’d put him in. Blueberry could’ve died or been hurt because of him and most likely would have if Edge hadn’t killed Papyrus. But still it was his fault that Blueberry was in that situation in the first place and he hated himself for it.

He was about to stand up to start pacing despite the pain in his head and his overall fatigue when he noticed Blueberry stirring beside him. His eyes fluttered open as he looked up at Edge, his sleepy expression transforming into one of pure joy.

“Edge you’re awake,” he said in an amazed whisper as he sat up as well. Despite his obvious excitement he hugged Edge gently, meaning he knew about Edge’s broken ribs. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re finally awake.”

“I’m so sorry Blue, about everything. I was so stupid; I shouldn’t have… I should’ve teleported away with you when he first appeared but I didn’t and you almost got hurt because of it. You almost got hurt because of me and you could’ve died and it would’ve been my fault. I’m so sorry… I…”

“Edge stop,” Blueberry said his voice firm but sad. “It’s okay really, I’m just glad that you’re okay. He could’ve killed you too you know, and he _did_ hurt you. So please don’t beat yourself up about this.”

“Is my brother really… Did I really…” he trailed off. Part of him still couldn’t believe it was true. Remembering it felt more like he was remembering a bizarre dream instead of something that had actually happened.

“Yeah you uh… killed him. I’ve uh… never seen anyone die before.”

Edge felt another stab of guilt run through him. Blueberry came from a nice world, him being one of the nicest and friendliest monsters there, of course he’d never seen anyone die before. He’d probably never seen anyone get seriously injured either. But because of Edge he’d had to watch as somebody turned to dust right in front of him.

“I’m sorry,” Edge said.

“It’s okay,” Blueberry assured him. “He… well I don’t know if he deserved it, but I can see why you did it. If you hadn’t I’m not sure I could’ve beat him. If what you’ve said about him is true he would’ve eventually got the better of me. So thank you for protecting me.”

“I… uh guess I should probably be thanking you too. You’re certainly a lot braver than me, standing up to Papyrus like that.”

Blueberry was so much braver than him. He’d been about to sit there and let Papyrus hurt him, possibly even kill him. But Blueberry had jumped out and saved him. It made him both want to thank Blueberry for it and apologize again for putting him in a situation where he’d had to do that in the first place.

“I… I should have jumped out sooner, but I was too afraid. And he… he hurt you because of it,” Blueberry said looking at the crack on the side of Edge’s skull. It still hurt and made the vision in his eye a little blurry but he’d had worse.

“No Blue, you did fine… you did better than me anyway.”

“Does it… hurt?”

“Uh yeah, but I’ve had worse. It’ll be fine a few weeks, so don’t worry about it.”

There was short pause before Blueberry spoke again. “Edge you… you almost died.” His voice broke as tears started to form in his eyes. “You almost died when you teleported us here. You were on the verge of falling down. I… I was so scared. I was scared that you were going to die and I… couldn’t… I couldn’t take that.”

Tears were now running down Blueberry’s face, breaking Edge’s metaphorical heart. He’d done this, this was his fault. His stupidity had not only put Blueberry in danger but had also deeply upset him.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, pulling Blueberry close. There was no way he’d ever be able to apologize enough to make up for this. He could never undo this. He’d made Blueberry worry about him. Blueberry shouldn’t have to worry about stuff like one of his friends almost dying. He was supposed to be happy all time, but Edge had made him worried and sad.

It was only a few minutes before Blueberry finished crying. “I’m so glad you’re okay Edge,” he said smiling as he pulled back, wiping away what was left of his tears. “You mean so much to me and I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Edge didn’t deserve that. Especially after everything he’d done. But Blueberry would never hate him and would probably never be mad at him, no matter how badly he fucked up. No matter how many times he put him danger or caused him emotional turmoil.

“I’m sorry I broke down like that,” Blueberry said, “it’s just I’ve been under a lot of stress lately.” (Stress that was entirely Edge’s fault.) “But everything’s going to be okay, because you’re okay. You’ll be able to take us back home in a few days, so everything’s going to be fine.” Blueberry smiled warmly at him. At least despite everything Blueberry continued to be able to go back to being happy with relative ease.

“I’m so sorry, I never meant for any of this to happen,” Edge said. “I never wanted you to get hurt, that was a large part of the reason I wanted to leave. And ‘sorry’ doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel.”

“I know Edge,” Blueberry said with a smile as he lay a comforting hand on Edge’s arm. “I know you didn’t want this to happen and I know you feel bad about it. But I forgive you and I hope one day that you’ll be able to forgive yourself too.”

Edge would probably never be able to forgive himself for this. But telling Blueberry that would do no good.

He was about to apologize again, despite having already been undeservedly forgiven, but was interrupted by the sound of somebody coming down the stairs. Looking over he saw it was this world’s version of Sans and Papyrus. Sans was dressed similar to Blueberry except in red and black instead of blue. Papyrus was dressed similar to Edge except for the spiked collar with a gold chain. From the way they were dressed and even the way they walked Edge didn’t need to talk to them to know this world was an evil version of Blueberry’s world.

Well wasn’t that just fucking fantastic? Out of one dangerous world and into another. If ‘unintentionally putting people you care about in danger’ was a sport Edge would win the gold medal.

“Good, you two are awake at a reasonable time,” Evilberry said, his tone all too reminiscent of how Edge’s bro had been sometimes. Judging by the small amount of light coming through the window it was early dawn, not a reasonable time to up at all. “I suppose that’s probably to be expected since you guys are me and therefore have better sense by default.”

“Good morning,” Blueberry said with his usual cheeriness, as if everything was perfectly fine with them and this world.

“I suppose you expect a ‘good morning’ in reply. So I guess, good morning to you too Blueberry,” Evilberry said as if he were granting Blueberry a huge favor. Blueberry smiled back at him, seemingly pleased with that reply even if it was condescending. “Now I believe Blueberry there said your nickname was something like ‘Edge’, yes? Good, now Edge as much as I wish to interrogate you as soon as possible, I simply do not have the time right now. It will unfortunately have to wait until I return from my Royal Guard duties. But when I get back be prepared to answer _all_ of my questions.”

Edge was about to tell him to fuck off when Blueberry placed a hand on his arm. “Don’t worry, I’m sure when you get back he’ll gladly tell you want you want to know,” he said with a smile. Edge had seen Blueberry’s smile enough times to know that this one was forced. So it looked like Blueberry wasn’t a big fan of Evilberry either, but not surprisingly was making an effort to be friendly anyway.

“Good, now Papyrus let’s go,” Evilberry said gesturing to Papyrus to follow him out the door.

“Right away m’lord,” Papyrus mumbled in response. He looked like he was half-asleep, and if Edge had to guess he’d probably fall asleep at his sentry post only to be yelled at by Evilberry.

“Oh and you two are not to leave the house no matter what,” Evilberry said standing in the open doorway. “Don’t even go near the windows. I don’t need my neighbours knowing I have guests.” With that Evilberry left, closing and locking the door behind him.

“I don’t like them, especially Sans,” Edge said as soon as he was sure Evilberry wouldn’t be coming back with some other last minute bullshit order.

“Yeah, I’m not surprised,” Blueberry said. “He’s kind of… strict. But he’s letting us stay here, and he agreed to help you when you were hurt. So he’s not all bad.”

“He hasn’t tried to hurt you, has he?” Edge asked. Blueberry was too nice for worlds like these, his being so nice would potentially make him look weak. And looking weak was never a good thing in his world and probably not in this one either.

“No, no one’s tried to hurt me,” Blueberry assured him. “I wouldn’t say he’s been very nice to me, but he hasn’t given any indication that he wants to hurt me either.”

There was that at least. And Blueberry could take care of himself even though he shouldn’t be in a situation where he’d have to worry about having to defend himself. But he was and it was Edge’s fault.

“If he or anyone else ever does try to hurt you I’ll kill them.” Edge meant it too. It was his fault Blueberry was in this mess so he’d protect Blueberry with his life if he had to.

“Edge please don’t. I know you don’t like them but can you please, _please_ try to get along with them? We’re only going to be here for a few days while we wait for you to recover, so please try to play nice, for me. It’ll make things a lot easier for us if you don’t make them mad.”

Blueberry was probably right; it would be a lot easier for them if they all got along. That was going to be a tall order though. Edge had never been good at controlling his anger and just looking at Evilberry made his nonexistent blood boil. The fact that he was essentially an evil version of Blueberry (the first person Edge had ever truly cared about, and hands down one of the nicest people in the multiverse) made Edge feel almost ill.

It wasn’t right, a world like this shouldn’t exist. Blueberry was a good person, there shouldn’t be an evil version of him. Even though Edge himself was already kind of an evil version of him, but considering everything being swapped in his world, this was different.

But they were stuck here until he could take Blueberry home. As much as he wanted to do that right now it would definitely kill him if he tried. So they would be stuck here a few days, meaning it was probably in his best interest to try to get along as much as possible.

“I’ll try,” he promised. He’d try to play nice because Blueberry was asking him to, and because getting into a fight with Evilberry would probably put Blueberry in danger too. And he’d already done enough of that to last a lifetime.

Blueberry gave him a warm smile, patting his arm. “Good, I’m glad you’re willing to at least try. Now do you want to help me make some breakfast?”

“I guess,” Edge groaned. He didn’t really want to. He still felt tired, achy, and stiff, but he didn’t want to say ‘no’ to Blueberry either.

“It’s okay Edge, if you’re too tired you don’t have to help,” Blueberry said with a smile. “You can take a nap on the couch and I can wake you when I’m done.”

Edge might’ve insisted on helping anyway if it wasn’t for the fact that he still felt like he’d been run over by a steamroller. But because Blueberry seemed fine with it he nodded. “Thanks,” he mumbled as he took the blanket and moved to the couch. Using the armrest as a pillow he curled up as tight as he could under the blanket.

“You’re welcome,” Blueberry said with a smile as Edge drifted off. This world was dangerous, so he should probably stay on alert but Blueberry was competent and would wake him if anything happened. So it would be fine.


	34. Not a Dog Collar

He was awoken all too soon by Blueberry saying breakfast was done and handing him a plate of pancakes. They ate on the couch, not wanting to bother with the table right now.

“So what we going to do today?” Blueberry asked after they’d sat back on the couch after washing their dishes.

“I don’t know.” Edge wanted to go back to sleep but didn’t want to leave Blueberry alone. Not only because this was a dangerous world but also because he didn’t want Blueberry to be bored.

“It’s okay you can go back to sleep if you want to,” Blueberry said as if reading his mind. “I’m sure I can find something to entertain myself with, and I’ll wake you if anything happens.”

“Ya sure you’re okay with that?”

“Yeah, I know you’re probably still tired so you should sleep. I’ll find something to do, don’t worry.”

With that Edge allowed himself to curl up under the blanket again and was asleep within minutes, trusting that Blueberry would wake him if anything happened.

 

He was awoken sometime later by the sound of Blueberry greeting Papyrus who had apparently just teleported in. Normally Edge would’ve been able to sleep through something like that, but because this was a dangerous world he hadn’t allowed himself to sleep as deeply as he usually did.

Sitting up he saw that Blueberry had found a deck of cards somewhere and was playing a game of solitaire on the kitchen table. Judging by the light coming through the windows it was only an hour or two away from midday.

“When my bro returns do me a favor and pretend I arrived just before he did,” Papyrus said as he flopped on the opposite side of the couch from where Edge was.

“Why?” Blueberry asked, gathering up the deck of cards once more before moving over to sit on the couch between them, closer to Edge than Papyrus.

“Because he’ll be mad if he knew I was skimping out on sentry duty again.”

“Yeah, we can do that,” Blueberry said. “Anyway Edge it’s good to see that you’re awake again, how are you feeling?”

“Okay I guess,” he mumbled in reply.

He wasn’t sure what to make of this Papyrus. Theoretically speaking they should be similar personality wise. They certainly dressed far too similar for Edge to be comfortable with. But they couldn’t be the same, right? Papyrus was much bigger than his brother, so he should still be the one in charge. But from what he’d just said and his behaviour this morning, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“So Edge I’ve been wondering,” Papyrus said much to Edge’s dismay (he’d rather not talk to this world’s Papyrus or Sans at all if he could help it) “my bro and Blueberry there are dressed almost the exact same except in different colours. But you’re dressed more like me, except for the holes in your coat. Why is that?”

Somehow Edge had forgotten about the holes in his coat from when his brother had pinned him to the ground until Papyrus pointed them out. He’d have to do something about them eventually, either get his coat stitched up or get a new one. Where he’d go to do either of those things he didn’t know. But he could worry about that later, after he’d gotten Blueberry back home where he belonged.

“That’s because this world is a swapped version of my own,” he said after reminding himself to keep his promise to Blueberry about not being hostile. It was easier to think about it as a swapped version of his world instead an evil version of Blueberry’s. Even though both were technically true because of how weird the multiverse was.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Papyrus asked pulling out a cigarette, lighting it with a lighter he’d pulled from his coat pocket.

“It means in his world everyone’s personalities are swapped.” Blueberry cheerfully went on to explain how it worked. Edge was grateful for him taking the lead and explaining it so he didn’t have to, the less he had to talk the better.

“Oh so, that means you’re like me,” Papyrus said once Blueberry finished explaining.

“Yeah I guess so,” Edge grumbled. Why couldn’t Papyrus just not talk to him? Couldn’t he see that Edge had no desire to have a conversation?

“You smoke?” Papyrus asked, offering him a cigarette.

“No.” Edge had tried smoking once but his brother had had a cow about it, saying it was gross and smelled bad. Anything that made his brother that upset with him he’d tended to avoid. Of course he could smoke now if he wanted, but he didn’t want to accept this Papyrus’ offer.

Papyrus shrugged in response before wordlessly offering a cigarette to Blueberry, who decline with a polite, “No thank you.”

“Not surprising,” Papyrus said as he pocketed the cigarette pack once more. “So Edgy Mc My Chemical Romance, how do you do the whole universe hopping thing?”

There was that stupid ass nickname again. The first time he’d been called that by Blueberry’s brother he hadn’t really cared that much. But this was the _third_ person to call him that and he was sick of it. “Why the fuck does everyone call me that?” he growled.

“Because you’re edgy as fuck and dressed like you’re about to go to a My Chemical Romance concert,” Papyrus replied with a smirk.

“You’re dressed almost the exact fucking same.”

“Yeah but I wear it better, and I’m not nearly as edgy as you.” Papyrus seemed to be trying to annoy him, it was working too.

“The fuck you aren’t,” Edge growled ignoring Blueberry’s restraining hand on his arm. “You’re even wearing a fucking dog collar for fuck’s sake. If that’s not edgy than I don’t know want is.”

“It’s _not_ a dog collar,” Papyrus said with a slight growl. Ha, they really were similar. Edge just had to find the right buttons and press them and he could annoy Papyrus just as much as he was annoying him.

“Well what the fuck is it then? Because it certainly _looks_ like a dog collar to me. Let me guess, you’re wearing it because to your brother and the rest of the world you’re little more than a _dog_ gone stupid mutt,” Edge said as he stood up to look Papyrus squarely in the face.

“Guys please stop fighting,” Blueberry pleaded, pulling a little on Edge’s arm. Edge would’ve been willing to listen to him if Papyrus hadn’t spoken up next.

“I swear to god if you call me a dog one more fucking time I’ll break your fucking face,” Papyrus said with a growl that almost made Edge flinch. But he wasn’t going to let any version of Papyrus intimidate him ever again, he’d killed his brother so he didn’t have to be afraid anymore.

“I’ll call you a fucking dog whenever I fucking want because that’s what you are, nothing but your brother’s obedient little mutt,” Edge said guessing that reminding him of his subservience to his brother as well as calling him a dog again would upset him the most. From the furious look that came over Papyrus’ face at those words Edge was pretty sure that that was something that was said to him a lot and that it had become a sore point for him. Meaning Edge had guessed right.

But he didn’t have long to enjoy his smug sense of satisfaction before Papyrus stood up with a growl of his own. “I thought I told you _not_ to call me a dog,” he growled as he grabbed Edge by the shirt collar lifting him several feet off the ground.

Edge suddenly regretted his actions as he found out that killing his brother hadn’t completely cured him of his fear after all. He wasn’t being held by the neck the way his brother always lifted him off the ground. But the hold was still far too close, and highlighted just how much smaller he was than Papyrus.

“Ya got anything to say ya little shit? Or are you all bark and no bite?” Papyrus growled lifting Edge right up to his face.

“I’m sorry Boss, I’m sorry, won’t happen again I swear,” he said out of pure instinct, hating himself immediately afterward for caving so fast. It had been a while since he’d given in that fast to his brother’s threats and this time it wasn't even really his brother, making it even more humiliating.

“Huh? What?” Papyrus said his angry expression shifting towards confusion. “Why are you suddenly so afraid of me? Or are you just a coward?”

“I-I’m not coward.” Edge’s shaky voice betrayed his lie. He was a coward, or at least he was when it came to dealing with any angry version of Papyrus. Turns out he couldn’t get over his deep-rooted fear of his brother so easily. His brother was still haunting him even from beyond the grave.

“Stop, please stop,” Blueberry begged. “Please don’t hurt him Papyrus, he didn’t mean it. So can you please put him down and then we can all relax and do something else.”

Papyrus gave him one more confused look before dropping him unceremoniously on the floor. He then flopped back on the couch and relit his cigarette.

“You okay Edge?” Blueberry whispered helping him to his feet.

“I uh…yeah I guess,” Edge stammered as he allowed Blueberry to lead him back to the couch. They sat so that Edge was as far away from Papyrus as he could get with Blueberry right next to him. Part of him wanted to just leave but he didn’t know where he could go and Evilberry would be mad at him if he did. He’d already upset Papyrus it probably wasn’t a good idea to upset his brother too.

They sat like that for what felt like hours but was only a few minutes. No one spoke. Blueberry continued to sooth Edge, who refused to look at anything other than the wall.

“You guys maybe want to apologize?” Blueberry said after a while, breaking the awkward silence. “You both got pretty mad and maybe you would both feel better if you… apologized to each other… about what happened. I’m not saying you have to or anything but maybe we could all be friends if we just try.”

Edge sighed as he realized what kind of a situation he’d put Blueberry in by fighting with Papyrus. Getting into a fight like that was probably one of the dumbest things he could’ve done (the list of horribly dumb things he’d done seemed to be getting longer and longer each day). Not only did Papyrus now know his weakness and could easily use it against him, but Edge had also made things awkward (and possibly more dangerous) for himself and Blueberry by upsetting him. And after Blueberry had specifically asked him not to.

“I’m sorry,” he said addressing both of them but mostly Papyrus. “I’m sorry about… calling you a dog or whatever.”

“Huh? What?” Papyrus said, he looked shocked as if he hadn’t expected an apology and wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“I… apologize or whatever…” Edge said. What Blueberry said was right, it’d be easier and less dangerous if everyone made an effort to get along. Of course there was a chance that his apology wouldn’t change the damage he’d already done, but he had to try. Besides Blueberry had asked him to and judging by the look he was now giving him, he was very pleased by his attempt at an apology. Anything Edge could do to make this easier for Blueberry he’d do, even if it meant he had to apologize.

“Oh uh… I guess I’m sorry too then,” Papyrus said a bit awkwardly, “for ya know… making fun of ya and stuff.”

“And…” Blueberry prompted.

“And for scaring you. I’m sorry I scared you like that.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Edge lied.

“Liar,” Papyrus said but his voice lacked any hostility. “But _why_ were you suddenly so afraid when I picked you up? You have a fear of heights or something? And what was with you calling me ‘Boss’?”

“Yeah, let’s just say I have a fear of heights,” Edge forced himself to say instead of the ‘none of your fucking business’ he wished to say. And it was true, being picked up was never fun and almost always ended in pain. He also wasn’t a fan of normal heights either, too much potential to fall, break something and possibly die, or depending on where one’s falling from, be splattered across time and space.

“See guys isn’t it much better when we all try to get along and be friends?” Blueberry said with a smile.

“I guess,” Edge and Papyrus said in unison, much to Edge’s (and probably Papyrus’) embarrassment.


	35. Interrogation

“Papyrus what have I told you about smoking in the house?” were the first words out of Evilberry’s mouth as soon he returned, closing and locking the front door behind him.

It was in the evening, almost time for supper. The three of them had hung out around the house doing a whole lot of nothing. Edge and Papyrus napped off and on, and they had played cards for a while before moving back to the couch. For lunch Papyrus had teleported to Muffet’s and brought back food for them.

 “Not to,” Papyrus said snubbing out his cigarette with a sigh that suggested that this was a common occurrence.

Edge wished he could go back to sleep and avoid interacting with Evilberry in any way, shape, or form. But alas now that he was here there was no way Edge would be able to fall asleep again. Besides earlier that morning Evilberry had said that he wanted to interrogate him about something, so there was no way he’d allow him to sleep anyway.

“How was your day today?” Blueberry greeted Evilberry with his usual friendly smile. Edge didn’t think Evilberry deserved Blueberry being friendly towards him, even less so than Edge himself did. But that’s just how Blueberry was.

“It was okay I suppose. I trust you two stayed here and made sure no one saw you, correct?”

“Of course,” Blueberry replied. “It was kind of boring but it wasn’t that bad.”

“Good. Oh and also Papyrus I know you left sentry duty early but I have chosen to forgive you this time because I don’t have the time nor the inclination to properly scold you right now.”

“Oh of course m’lord, I am very grateful and promise I won’t do it again in the future,” Papyrus replied.

“I wish that true,” Evilberry said with a small sigh. He then positioned himself to stand in front of where Edge was lounging on the couch next to Blueberry. He stood as if he were a military general about to command his troops into battle. It made Edge want to claw his face off even before he started speaking. “Now Edge you are going to answer truthfully every question I ask you. Do you understand?”

“Yeah sure, whatever I guess,” Edge said forcing himself not to growl. As much as he didn’t want to have any kind of conversation with Evilberry he was determined not to make the same mistake he’d made with Papyrus earlier. Angering Evilberry would no doubt be a very bad idea, especially if he really was like Edge’s bro which so far he seemed to be.

“Good, now how does your universe hopping power work?”

That wasn’t the question Edge had been expecting. He wasn’t sure what he’d thought Evilberry wanted to interrogate him about, but it wasn’t that. “I teleport with the intent to get away from wherever I am at the time,” he explained.

“How do you get this power?”

“I don’t know.” Edge shrugged. “I was mad one day and needed to get away and just sorta did it.”

“You don’t know,” Evilberry said, voice dripping with displeasure. “How long have you this power? When and where did you get it?”

“I don’t know.” For all Edge knew he might’ve been able to do it right from when he’d gotten his normal teleport power. Or it might’ve developed from that sometime afterwards. Or it might’ve come from somewhere completely unrelated.

“You mean you haven’t done _any_ research or study into it at all?”

“No, I haven’t.” He could’ve and probably should’ve, except for the fact that he didn’t actually care to know the answers. It was a thing he could do, why go to all the trouble of finding out why he could do it?

“Ugh, you brainless dolt, you’re even lazier than Papyrus,” Evilberry complained. “What kind of _idiot_ finds out they can teleport to other universes and doesn’t bother to find out why or how?”

If it wasn’t for Blueberry placing a firm hand on his arm Edge would’ve lost his cool and would’ve no doubt said something stupid. He may be an idiot and not very smart sometimes but that didn’t mean he wanted to be told that.

“He’s not an idiot. And you shouldn’t say things like that, it’s not very nice,” Blueberry said. “I would very much prefer it if we all made an effort to be nice to each other. It would make things easier for everyone if we all tried to be friends.”

Evilberry gave him a confused look, as if he’d said something very strange. Edge probably would’ve looked at him like that too if he hadn’t known him as well as he did. But he had to admit Blueberry standing up for him like that made him feel slightly better, even if he _was_ an idiot and probably deserved to be called one.

“Very well, I suppose we can deal with that later,” Evilberry said regaining his composure. “What’s your universe like? It is clearly very different form mine considering how…” he paused as if looking for a word that wasn’t offensive, “…different you are from me.”

“It’s like yours, except everyone’s personalities are swapped.” Blueberry thankfully explained it all for him again, saving him from having to speak.

“I suppose that makes sense,” Evilberry said once Blueberry finished explaining it. “You do seem an awful like Papyrus, not only in fashion sense but in your… lazy attitude as well.” He obviously disapproved of that ‘lazy attitude’. “I suppose that means your brother is more like me then. But why would he let you get away with running off to other universes like this?”

“He didn’t _let_ me get away with anything. In fact, he didn’t even know that alternate universes exist.”

“Why don’t you tell him? I mean like it’s kinda a big deal, so it makes sense to tell him, don’t ya think?” Papyrus cut in.

“No, because he was a fucking piece of shit, and if I had told him he probably would’ve found some reason to punish me for it,” Edge growled. His brother may be dead but talking about him was still stressful and angering.

“Punish you for it?” Evilberry asked. “Why would he punish you for something like that? Traveling to other universes has endless amounts of potential benefits.”

“Yeah well, I’m sure he could’ve found some reason to beat me to within an inch of my life for it anyway. He certainly did when he discovered my normal teleport powers.”

“What do you mean ‘beat you to within an inch of life’?” Papyrus asked. “You can’t honestly be suggesting…”

“Yeah, like _you_ guys don’t fucking know what I mean. You’re like me and you,” he pointed Evilberry, “are like my brother. You probably beat the living shit of him all the fucking time, and I bet he _lets_ you do it too.” He hadn’t seen them interact a whole lot but when he had Evilberry had been bossing his brother around with an air of that being normal for them. Meaning he probably abused his brother too.

“Are you saying your brother…” Evilberry trailed off as that revelation surprised him for some reason. After being told about the swapped nature of their worlds had he really suspected any different? Or was this idea actually foreign to him? Maybe Edge shouldn’t have been so open about that stuff. He only had been so because he’d assumed that’s how it was here too. But judging by their confusion he may have assumed wrongly. But it was too late to take his words back now.

“Yeah, I’m saying my bro beat the shit outta me all the time,” he said deciding to try to play it off as unimportant since he’d already messed up so bad by telling them anyway. And it was of less importance now that his brother was dead.

A heavy silence descended upon them as Papyrus and Evilberry just stared at him, making him highly uncomfortable. He couldn’t even begin to guess what they might be thinking. He would’ve stood up to start pacing if Blueberry wasn’t there soothing him with gentle touches.

“Oh fuck, it makes sense now,” Papyrus exclaimed as something seemed to have suddenly dawned on him. “You were afraid of me because I reminded ya of your bro. Dude _shit_ , that’s fucked up, I’m sorry.”

“What are you talking about?” Evilberry asked before Edge could try to deny that that was the case.

“Oh yeah, earlier me and him may have gotten to an argument. And I _may_ have gotten a little mad and maybe lifted him off the ground. And he may have kinda panicked a bit because of it.”

“I did _not_ panic,” Edge protested. Why did this have to come up again? He’d rather forgot that whole embarrassing episode ever happened.

“First off Papyrus what have I told you about starting arguments with people?” Evilberry said shooting his brother a disapproving look. “The last thing we need is you making a bunch of enemies for me to have to deal with because you let your anger get out of hand again.”

“But m’lord, this time I actually didn’t start it, and I’m telling the truth about that for once. He got mad first, I was only responding to his anger. Besides we made up and apologized. We’re pals now, right Edgy?” Papyrus said giving him a sly smirk.

‘Pals’ isn’t the word that Edge would’ve used. And he’d only kind of started it. Papyrus had said the thing that had made him mad, even if that wasn’t his intent at the time. And then Papyrus had continued to goad him about it. So really most of the blame fell on his shoulders not Edge’s.

“Yeah, they both apologized and everything,” Blueberry cut in with a smile before Edge could contradict Papyrus. Probably a good thing since arguing about that point wouldn’t get them anyway useful.

“Very well,” Evilberry conceded. “I suppose that point is of little relevance by now anyway. Now Edge I am having a hard believing your story about your brother. It simply does not make any sense. From what you have said and what I have witnessed, you are more like my brother: lazy, irresponsible, and recklessly stupid sometimes. And you have stated that I am like your brother. Therefore, as the smarter more responsible one it is your brother’s duty to keep you in line and make sure you don’t anything stupid that might get you killed. I hardly see how hurting you could help with accomplishing either of those things.”

Edge was _really_ starting to get sick of Evilberry’s bullshit. The more he spoke the more he wanted to claw his face off. And his sense of ‘duty’ about Papyrus was similar to the ‘duty’ Edge’s bro had felt about him. Only his bro had said it was his ‘duty’ to beat the laziness and stupidity out of him.

“I don’t see how what my fucking brother did to me is any of your _fucking_ business,” Edge growled as he stood up to be on the same eye level as Evilberry. “So how ‘bout you shut the fuck up about it.”

A flash of surprise showed on Evilberry’s face for a split second before being replaced with a look of controlled anger. “No, I was wrong, you are _more_ recklessly stupid than Papyrus is. You should _know_ not to mess with me.”

“You think I’m fucking afraid of you bitch?” Edge stepped forward so that he was growling directly in Evilberry’s face, who didn’t even so much as flinch. “I killed my _fucking_ piece of shit brother, so I should be able to kill _your_ sorry ass too.”

“Edge,” Blueberry said in the silence that followed that proclamation, “you need to calm down, please. Fighting and… and trying to kill each other is _not_ going to help. It’ll only make it worse.”

Again Edge would’ve been willing to listen to Blueberry and back down if it wasn’t for what Evilberry said next, “How _dare_ you talk to me like that? How _dare_ you try to threaten me?” Words that his own brother had said to him hundreds if not thousands of times. Words that erased any thread of sanity that he might’ve normally possessed.

“I’ll talk to you however I damn well please,” he said shoving Evilberry as hard as he could. There being very little space between them there was no way there was no way he could avoid it. But he seemed prepared for it as with one hand he grabbed one of Edge’s wrists, yanking on it and causing him to stumble to the ground. At the same exact time he used his other hand to summon an attack, hitting Edge squarely in the side of the head with it, the exact spot his brother had hit him earlier.

Edge gasped with pain as he fell to the floor. It felt like his skull was splitting, and in a way it was. The hit had made the crack already there worse. And it _hurt_. Some small part of himself knew he was lucky to be alive, any harder and that hit would’ve shattered his skull completely. But the rest of him was too wrapped up in pain and scrambling back to his feet to think much on it right now.

Instead of following up on his advantage with another attack Evilberry took a few steps back and stood with his hands behind his back. It didn’t seem like he was interested in an actual fight. Instead he glared at Edge with a disapproving angry look that was similar to how his bro used to look at him all the time. It made Edge want to _kill_ him.

But before he had a chance to try to do that Blueberry stepped between them. “Please let’s not fight, okay?” he said reaching out and placing a comforting hand on Edge’s arm. “Let’s just all take a minute to relax and calm down a bit, shall we?”

“I would hardly call that a fight,” Evilberry said with a tone suggesting superiority. “He was much too enraged to be able to properly approach any kind of real fight.”

“Edge don’t,” Blueberry said placing himself squarely in front of him placing his hands on his shoulders, stopping him from trying to get at Evilberry again. “Just relax, okay? Don’t listen to him. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise.”

Despite his surroundings Edge found himself calming down a little at Blueberry soothing voice and soft touches. The horrendous pain in skull made it hard to focus on anything other than it anyway. The hit had worsened injury and his vision in that eye was now gone. He’d be half blind until his injury healed enough that it no longer disrupted the magic in his eye socket.

He groaned as he lifted one hand up to where the white hot pain was coming from but couldn’t bring himself to touch it. Judging by the worried look Blueberry was giving him he guessed it probably looked pretty bad.

Well wasn’t that just great? Not only had he been stupid and started a fight with Evilberry he’d also made Blueberry worry about him again.

“Really Blueberry you should teach your boyfriend better manners,” Evilberry said, pulling Edge away from his unhappy thoughts.

“Wait what?” Blueberry asked jumping as he turned to look at Evilberry. “He’s not…”

“What, you think I haven’t noticed that you two are lovers? If you didn’t want me to know about that you’ve done a rather poor job of trying to hide it.”

“But we’re not…” Blueberry trailed off.

“Oh please, I am not judging you. You are allowed to love him if you wish to. You two are clearly different enough that the fact that you’re technically the same person doesn’t matter. I am however judging you on how very open you are about it. If any monster other than my brother or myself saw you being all lovey-dovey they’d be tempted to try to use your love for each other to hurt you.”

Evilberry was the second person to suggest they were more than friends. Well actually he was doing a whole lot more than just suggesting. He had obviously assumed that to be the case and believed it without even getting any form of confirmation.

“We’re not like that,” Edge said. He hadn’t even thought about that type of thing since he’d dismissed it. Blueberry deserved to be with someone better than him. He’d done nothing but put Blueberry in danger and through emotional turmoil. So he didn’t even deserve to be his friend let alone anything more.

“You honestly expect us to believe that you two aren’t fucking each other every chance you get?” Papyrus cut in with a small laugh.

A bright blue magical blush came over Blueberry’s face at those words. “Um no… we’re not,” he said. “Why don’t we all take a minute to calm down and uh… me and Edge will go make supper.” Blueberry took Edge’s hand and led the way towards the kitchen, the sound of Papyrus’ laughter following them out of the room.


	36. Silly Dream

“Um… are you okay Edge?” Blueberry asked, as soon as they were alone in the kitchen. His embarrassment over how the previous conversation had ended seemingly fading as he started to worry about Edge again. 

“Uh yeah, I’m fine,” Edge replied. His head still hurt like hell but the intense pain had faded slightly, though it hurt worse than before he’d taken another hit there.

“Are you sure? It looks… not good.”

“It’s fine really, I’ve had worse,” Edge assured him as he starting looking for a reflective surface so he could see how bad it was for himself. He quickly found one: a well-polished metal pot. Holding it up he did his best to inspect his injury.

The crack running off the side of his eye socket now wrapped almost all the way to the back of his head. The place where it connected to his eye socket was wider now too. The magic in that eye socket had been disturbed enough so that his eye light had vanished, making it look like a bottomless pit. He knew from experience that he wouldn’t be able to see out of it again for a few months.

“Maybe you should go see a healer or something,” Blueberry suggested.

“It’s fine, Blue really, so don’t worry about me, okay?” he said lowering the pot to look at Blueberry’s worried face once more. The last thing he wanted was for Blueberry to worry about him when he already had so many other things to worry about already.

Blueberry sighed. “How can I not worry about you when you keep getting hurt like that?”

“I… I’m sorry. I know I’m real stupid, I shouldn’t’ve tried to attack him like,” Edge said, feeling guilty about his poor behaviour earlier. He shouldn’t have done that, but he’d been so _mad_. Evilberry reminded him too much of his brother and then had talked about his brother, making it worse.

“You’re not stupid. Doing stupid things sometimes doesn’t make you stupid,” Blueberry said. Edge didn’t see how that distinction could be made, he did stupid things sometimes because he was stupid. “Besides he was being a bit… difficult, so I can’t really blame you for getting mad at him. Even if reacting like that wasn’t the smartest thing you could’ve done.”

That had probably been the third stupidest thing he’d ever done, right under accidentally bringing Blueberry to his world and deciding to confront his brother instead of teleporting away like he should’ve. If Evilberry had decided to continue his attack things most likely would’ve gone poorly for Edge and more importantly Blueberry too.

“Anyway, at least you’re going to be okay,” Blueberry continued smiling at him. “And thank you for at least trying to get along with them even if it didn’t actually work out. At least you tried, that’s what’s important.” Too bad trying hadn’t been good enough to stop him from being dumb.

After giving Edge a brief but reassuring hug Blueberry turned to open the fridge. It was supper time after all and that is what they came in here to do. With a sigh Edge set to help him.

The fridge wasn’t super well stocked but they did come up with enough to make tacos as long as they were willing to forgo the lettuce. Edge had done this enough times by now that he only needed a couple reminders from Blueberry on what to do.

“You know Edge, I think I’m starting to understand you a little more,” Blueberry said as they worked.

“What do ya mean?”

“Just why you’re so stressed all the time. This world and your world so very stressful. If I grew up in a place like this I would probably be stressed all the time too.”

Edge resisted the urge to start pacing as he felt another stab of guilt run through him. Blueberry was _never_ supposed to see his world or any world like it. He was too nice, sweet and innocent for this kind of place. He deserved to be happy in his safe friendly world, but Edge had dragged him out of it.

“And don’t apologize again,” Blueberry continued before Edge could do just that. “It matters a whole lot more to me that you’re okay. As long you’re okay I’ll be happy.” Blueberry smiled at him.

“I’ll take you home tomorrow morning.” Edge wished he could do it right now, but couldn’t risk it.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. How about day after tomorrow? That way you have plenty of time to recover your magic.”

“Yeah but…” Edge wanted nothing more than to be out of this world. He _hated_ Evilberry. And even if Papyrus wasn’t as bad as he could’ve been, there was still a chance they might find something to fight about anyway. Also, he needed to get Blueberry home and out of potential danger as soon as possible.

“I know you don’t like them and stuff. And I _really_ want to go home too. But it’s more important to me that you don’t hurt yourself. Last time you teleported like that you almost _died_. I don’t want you to push yourself like that ever again, you mean too much to me.”

“Fine, day after tomorrow then, before that fuck-face piece of shit other version of us returns home,” Edge conceded. He wanted to insist on doing it tomorrow anyway but couldn’t say ‘no’ to that look in Blueberry’s eyes. Besides he’d made Blueberry worry about him enough already.

“Good.” Blueberry smiled wide at him before giving him another hug. When they pulled apart, Blueberry lingered, looking directly into Edge’s one functioning eye. “Also uh… about what the others said…” he began almost shyly before the sound of the stove beeping, signaling that food was done and causing them both to jump a little, cut him off.

As Blueberry turned to attend to that Edge wondered what he’d been about to say. What had the others said that Blueberry wanted to talk about? Was it about the assumption that they were more than friends? Did Blueberry really want… no surely not. If that was what Blueberry wanted to talk about then it probably would’ve been to dismiss it as silly nonsense. There was no way Blueberry was interested in him like that, even if Edge might be interested in him that way. Also, Blueberry deserved to be with someone a thousand times better than him anyway.

“Food’s done,” Blueberry said once he’d set everything up to be served. “You ready to go face them again?”

“No, not really.”

“Well you only have to deal with them for a little while longer before we can go home. Try your best not to let them bother you too much, okay?”

“I’ll try.” Edge sighed. He could try not to let them get to him all he wanted, but that wouldn’t change the fact that it was easy to do so.

“That’s all I’m asking for. And if they get to be too much I’ll try my best to intervene before things get out of hand,” Blueberry said with a smile.

He then took Edge’s hand, leading the way back to the living room where Evilberry was now sitting on the couch sitting next to Papyrus. They had been discussing something but cut off when Blueberry and Edge entered the room.

“Food’s done,” Blueberry announced.

Edge had to resist the urge to growl as Evilberry stood up and strode over to stand in front of them. “Me and my brother have been talking, and he has convinced me that you were telling the truth about your brother. He has also convinced me that my pressing about it was… not good,” he said standing stiff as a board as he addressed Edge. “And I would just like to say that I am sorry that your brother has failed you so in such an awful way.” Then without even waiting for a reply he strode past them into the kitchen.

Edge was so shocked he took an involuntary step backwards. That was the _last_ thing he’d have expected Evilberry to say.

“See Edge, he’s not _all_ bad after all,” Blueberry said with an excited smile.

“Yeah, m’lord’s an asshole sometimes but he’s cool too,” Papyrus said as he walked past them into the kitchen as well.

With a large smile Blueberry, still holding his hand from earlier, lead him back into the kitchen. Evilberry was already sitting at the head of the table with Papyrus on his right-hand side. Edge would’ve to gone sit on the couch but Blueberry pulled him to the table. Unfortunately, Blueberry was right, sitting on the couch might upset Evilberry again and that was the last thing they needed right now. So, with a sigh he sat next to Blueberry, who thankfully positioned himself so that he’d be between Edge and the others.

As they ate Blueberry was really the only one chatting. Papyrus, and more rarely Evilberry would occasionally reply to something he’d said while Edge stayed silent. He preferred listening over talking anyway, especially when he was stressed.

Once they were done they cleaned their plates in the sink and moved back to the living room. Papyrus sat on one end of the couch while Edge sat on the opposite end with Blueberry right next to him. There was room for Evilberry to sit between Blueberry and Papyrus but he once more chose to stand in front of Edge again. Meaning he probably wanted to resume his annoying interrogation.

“Now I suppose it’s probably time to get into _why_ I care about your universe hopping power,” Evilberry said. He looked almost a tad nervous for some reason. “Me and my brother were talking a while back, and the topic of alternate universes arose. He told me that it was a phenomenon that he and Gaster had investigated.”

“Oh so you remember Gaster?” Blueberry asked.

“No, I wasn’t there when he fell in the Core, but Papyrus was and he told me all about him. Including how they worked together on the Core and various other projects. One of those projects being the study of alternate universes. From what he has told me that study, though interrupted by Gaster’s demise, came up with the fact that if alternate universes exist there should be an almost infinite number of them. Is that correct?”

“Yeah.” Edge shrugged. His own interrupted study on the topic had concluded the same thing.

“Good. Now if there’s almost an infinite number of universes in existence wouldn’t that also mean that there are an almost infinite number of things that could happen in them?”

“Uh yeah, I guess that’s how it would work,” Edge said. What was Evilberry getting at here?

“Infinite possibilities would mean that there are worlds with… the Barrier destroyed, correct?”

“Uh… yeah, that makes sense.” Edge hadn’t considered that possibility before. But Evilberry was right, there would be worlds in existence where the Barrier was broken or never even existed at all.

“In any of the worlds you’ve visited so far has that ever been the case? And how rare is this possibility?” Evilberry asked with barely contained eagerness.

“Nah, that’s never been the case. But including my own world and this one I’ve only been to like four worlds, so I don’t know how rare it might be.” Edge couldn’t be sure but he suspected that it was probably an uncommon occurrence, even though that might just be his pessimism speaking, four wasn’t a very big sample size.

“Oh I see,” Evilberry replied voice dripping with displeasure. “But oh well, I guess you are lazy so I can’t expect to have tried very hard on that front either. Anyway, if you can do it does that mean my brother might be able to do it too?”

“Uh, I don’t know. He can try it if he wants to,” Edge said hoping they would and that it would work. If they teleported off to another universe Edge wouldn’t have to deal with them anymore.

“And he will try it sometime tomorrow. I will be _very_ displeased with him if he can’t do it though.” Evilberry shot Papyrus a glare as if he’d already failed.

“Is that what this has been about the whole time?” Blueberry asked. “You just wanted to know about alternate universes so that you might be able to see the Surface one day?”

“Yes, that is why I wanted to know about Edge’s universe hopping power. Because I want my brother to be able to do it too, so that he can take me to the Surface.”

“You see m’lord is absolutely _obsessed_ with seeing the Surface,” Papyrus cut in.

“I am _not_ obsessed,” Evilberry protested. “Everybody wants to see the Surface so I’m hardly unique in my desire to do so.”

“Yeah, and collecting everything available from and about the Surface is also totally a thing everybody does. He’s more obsessed with getting to the Surface then Undyne and Alphys are with their anime.”

“Shut up Papyrus,” Evilberry growled at him. “I don’t get obsessed over things, especially over silly dreams like seeing the Surface. It is merely a curiosity, nothing more.”

“I don’t think wanting to see the Surface is a silly dream,” Blueberry said with his expected optimism. Edge did think it was a bit of a silly dream, though admittedly less so when multi-universal travel was possible.  “In fact, I would very much like to see the Surface myself. So, I guess we have that in common.”

“No,” Evilberry said. “It is a silly dream, and there’s no room for dreams of any sort in a place like this. So as much as I would like to, I’m not obsessed with seeing the Surface.”

“Nah, he’s obsessed, he just refuses to admit it,” Papyrus said earning himself another angry glare from Evilberry which he ignored completely.

“So if you can do it, are you and your brother going to start looking for a world with the Barrier broken?” Blueberry asked.

“Yeah, probably.” Papyrus shrugged. “He’ll definitely want to.”

“Oh okay, but just so you know if you can do it you’ll probably pass out immediately afterward, Edge always does.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Papyrus said.

“And if you can’t do it,” Evilberry said, “then we’ll take Edge to the lab and experiment on him until we figure out his secret.”

Edge had to resist growling at that. No way was he going to let anyone experiment on him in anyway. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of invasive bullshit they’d have to do to him to figure out how is magic worked. Also, there was no way he was going to stay here any longer than he had to, not when he had to get Blueberry home as soon as possible. If anyone tried to experiment on him or force him to stay, there’d be hell to pay. Looking over he saw that Blueberry was also displeased with this suggestion, but of course didn’t say anything either.

“Anyway Edge do you think maybe one day we could… do something like that too?” Blueberry said giving Edge a hopeful smile. “Find a world with access to the Surface or something.”

“I don’t know, maybe. But first I need to get you home.” Maybe after he’d recovered from teleporting Blueberry back home that’s what he would set out to do. Only he’d do it by himself, no way was he going put Blueberry in potential danger like that, especially after all this.


	37. Peace

The next morning Blueberry woke up with Edge cuddled warmly besides him, still fast asleep. Last night Edge had offered to let him sleep on the couch, but Blueberry had insisted they sleep on the floor next to each other again. Even if the couch was technically more comfortable nothing could beat cuddling with Edge.

Normally Blueberry would’ve gotten up as soon as he was awake, but he wasn’t ready to face the day yet. It was all so much more stressful than he was used to. Especially yesterday when Edge had gotten into not one but two fights, and had even gotten hurt in the second one. Not to mention what had happened in Edge’s world. But hopefully nothing bad would happen today.

He stayed like that, enjoying the early morning peace and Edge’s warmth besides him, for as long he could. Which unfortunately wasn’t long. When he heard the sounds of this world’s Sans and Papyrus coming down the stairs he reluctantly disentangled himself from Edge and the blanket, making sure to disturb Edge as little as possible. After adjusting the blanket around Edge, he turned to face Black Sans and Papyrus who had just reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Good morning,” he said with a smile making sure to keep his voice low so as not to wake Edge.

“Good morning to you too, I suppose,” Black Sans replied. “You should wake him up.” He gestured to Edge.

“I’d rather let him sleep until it’s time for breakfast.” Blueberry knew that just because he was a morning person that didn’t mean everybody was. Waking up Edge this early would not only be unnecessary but also a little unfair too, considering how tired and stressed he would no doubt be.

Judging by how tired Papyrus looked that wasn’t a kindness that Black Sans was willing to extend to him. What was the point of waking somebody up this early if they were going to be too tired to do anything other than fight sleep?

“You shouldn’t encourage your boyfriend’s laziness,” Black Sans said.

Blueberry almost objected to Edge once more being labeled as his boyfriend, but didn’t. What would be the point? Black Sans would think whatever he wanted to think regardless of what anyone else said. And besides Blueberry didn’t mind that label very much anyway.

Also, maybe that label wasn’t too far off the mark. He did like Edge an _awful_ lot, more than any other friend he’d ever had. He’d never thought of being in that type of relationship before, it had just never occurred to him that he might want that one day. But he could see himself being happy like that with Edge.

He had wanted to talk to Edge about it last night but it had never felt like the right time to bring it up. He’d eventually decided that he’d wait until they were back home. That could be how Blueberry convinced him to stay, he wouldn’t want to leave if they were dating.

“Letting him sleep in a little isn’t encouraging him to be lazy,” he said instead. “Besides the more rest he gets the sooner he’ll be able to take us home.”

“I suppose you may let him sleep for a little while longer then,” Black Sans said dismissively before heading into the kitchen gesturing for Papyrus to follow him. Having nothing better to do Blueberry followed them in, thinking he could help make breakfast.

As soon as they were in the kitchen Papyrus slumped down at the table, resting his head in his arms.

“Don’t you dare fall asleep at the table again,” Black Sans snapped at him, causing him to jerk back up into a more normal sitting position.

“Of course not m’lord. Was just resting my head,” he mumbled as he reached into his pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes. But before he could even pull one out Black Sans glared at him with a look that even Blueberry could read as telling him not to dare try to smoke in the house. So, with a sigh he pocketed the cigarette pack once more.

Blueberry felt sorry for Papyrus, having to putting up with a brother who was so demanding and bossy. Like Blueberry knew he would sometimes tell his own brother what to do, but he _never_ made demands like that. He’d even given up on trying to get Paps to quit smoking, it’s not like it was unhealthy for monsters who didn’t even have real lungs anyway. So what was the point of making a big deal about it?

Not for the first-time Blueberry wanted to say something to Black Sans about maybe being nicer to his brother. Even though it probably wouldn’t do anything other than start an argument. But if it wasn’t for him needing to watch out for Edge he might’ve done it anyway.

“Don’t you have to head to Royal Guard duty now?” he said instead.

“No, today Papyrus is going to try to teleport us to another world, hopefully one where the Barrier is broken,” Black Sans said. “And if that doesn’t work he’ll be taking Edge to the lab to experiment on him and find out where his universe hopping power came from.”

Blueberry did _not_ like the thought of them trying to do that to Edge. There was no way he’d allow it either. But he wouldn’t say anything unless they tried it, he didn’t want to start a fight or argument if he didn’t have to.

“I ain’t doing that shit,” Papyrus said. “I’ll try to teleport to another world but I am _not_ even going try to mess with Edgy like that.”

“You will if I tell you to,” Black Sans said, the threat in his voice obvious to even Blueberry.

“Nope not this time. He’s got the same anger issues I have, and I’d much rather not deal with all that bullshit. Honestly trying to force a cat to take a bath would probably be easier and result in less injuries than trying to get Edgy to submit to any kind of lab experiment.”

Blueberry felt a lot better knowing that Papyrus was on his side.

“Fine, if you’re going to insist on disobedience, I can drag him down to Undyne’s lab myself. At least she’ll do her job, unlike _you_ ,” Black Sans said crossing his arms with a growl.

“Nah bro, I wouldn’t recommend it. He’d probably fight ya every step of the way. Also, there’s no way Blueberry there would let ya do something like that either. He’s you, remember? He may not be as much of an asshole as you are but he’s still you. You _really_ think you can take the both of them?”

“First off don’t you dare call me an ‘asshole’ ever again. And second I suppose you may have a point, Blueberry wouldn’t let us do that to his lover. But surely if we just ask Edge nicely he’d be willing to comply, he’s smart enough to realize how important this is.”

“Nah, you can try it, but I can almost guarantee he won’t agree to it,” Papyrus said.

“Blueberry,” Black Sans said unexpectedly turning his stern gaze on Blueberry. “If you asked your boyfriend to let us experiment on him would he do it?”

Edge felt bad enough about this whole situation that he’d probably do almost anything Blueberry asked him to, even if he didn’t really want to. But Blueberry wasn’t going to take advantage of him like that, it would be wrong to do so. “I’m not going to ask him to do that. You can ask him if you want and if he agrees to it, fine. But _I_ won’t ask him,” he said.

“But Papyrus what if you can’t do it,” Black Sans demanded. “I _want_ to see the Surface; you can’t just give me a shot at seeing it and then take away.”

“If I can’t do it I’ll figure something else out.” Papyrus said calmly not responding to Black Sans’ anger. “Knowing it’s definitely possible I’m sure I could build something that’ll let us do the same. Fuck, if that whole passing out thing is really a thing, I might do that regardless of whether or not I can teleport like that or not.”

“You better, or else I will be very, very cross with you for letting this opportunity slip by.”

“Don’t worry, I know how much seeing the Surface means to ya. If I can’t do it I’ll figure something else out, promise.”

“Very well then,” Blacks Sans said taking a deep breath that seemed to calm him a little. “I suppose this is all conjecture anyway since you haven’t tried it yet. But I will be _very_ disappointed in you if you can’t do it.”

“Of course m’lord, I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

“Good,” Black Sans said calming down even further. “Now Blueberry you have proven that you are at least a half way competent chef, so you will be helping me make breakfast.”

“Okay,” Blueberry said with a smile as he moved to stand next to Black Sans by the stove. “Thanks for that,” he whispered to Papyrus as he walked by him, getting a noncommittal grunt in response.

Between the two of them it wasn’t long before they’d finished breakfast. It was a new thing call French toast that Blueberry had never heard of. Black Sans had reluctantly explained how to make it once he realized Blueberry didn’t know how.

“Now go wake your boyfriend,” Black Sans said once they were finished.

Blueberry went back into the living room. Edge was still curled up under the blanket in the corner. Blueberry didn’t want to wake him yet, he looked so peaceful and was even smiling a little. When he woke up he’d start stressing about Black Sans, probably Papyrus as well, and who even knew what else. But it was time for breakfast.

“Wake up Edge,” he said giving Edge’s shoulder a light shake.

Edge’s eyes fluttered open. The empty one with the crack running off it was still concerning, but Edge had insisted that it was fine. So, Blueberry would wait until they were safely back home before asking him to go see a healer about it.

“’Morning Blue,” Edge mumbled with a sleepy smile that made Blueberry want to hug him tight and never let go.

“Good morning Edge.” Blueberry smiled at him, pulling him to his feet. “How are you feeling? How’s your eye?”

“It’s fine,” Edge said despite the fact that it didn’t _look_ fine. It looked like it hurt. And if Blueberry had to guess he probably couldn’t see out of that eye. But there wasn’t anything they could do about it until they were back home.

“Breakfast’s ready,” he said with a smile instead of voicing his concerns.

They walked into the kitchen, hand in hand. Edge’s whole body seemed to tense up at the sight of Black Sans and Papyrus already seated at the table.

“Don’t you two have Royal Guard duty or some shit that you need to go do?” he asked.

“We would but Papyrus is going to try to teleport to another world today, one where the Barrier’s broken,” Black Sans said in his usual haughty attitude.

So, they sat down at the table for breakfast, Blueberry again making sure to place himself between Edge and the other two. As they ate he chatted about whatever inane thing came to mind. Even if his table mates weren’t super interested in conversation he wanted to try to keep the mood light, with no awkward silences that would stress everyone out.

After they’d finished eating they once more cleaned their plates in the sink before moving back to the living room.

“Now Edge, explain to my brother how it’s supposed to be done again,” Black Sans demanded.

Edge looked like he wanted to protest but didn’t. Instead he once more explained everything he knew about teleporting to other universes.

“And how would I get back here?” Papyrus asked.

“Do the same thing only think about what this place feels like too,” Edge replied.

“How would I know if that works though? Like how can you tell which universe is your home universe?”

“You’ll just know,” Edge said.

“All right well, I guess it’s time to give this thing a go. You ready m’lord?” Papyrus asked as he positioned himself behind Black Sans with his hands resting on his shoulders.

“Yes, I am. And if this works, you two better not make a mess of the house otherwise we will hunt you down,” Black Sans threatened. “The only reason I’m trusting you here alone is because you proved yourself capable of at least not making a mess yesterday when I did the same.”

“Of course we won’t make a mess,” Blueberry assured him. “We’ll be leaving tomorrow anyway.”

“Well then I guess, see ya later Blueberry and Edgy Mc My Chemical Romance” Papyrus said with a wink before disappearing with a loud pop, bringing Black Sans with him. The popping sound, always present when someone teleports seemed be twice as loud this time, meaning it had probably worked.

“Oh my gosh, I think it worked,” Edge said the relief in his voice almost palpable.

“It looks like it,” Blueberry said. “I hope they find the Surface.” Blueberry did hope that, Black Sans had proven that deep down inside he wasn’t that bad a guy, maybe the Surface would be the perfect place to truly realize that potential.

“I think I’m gonna take a nap now if that’s okay,” Edge said.

“Of course you can take a nap, I don’t mind,” Blueberry assured him. Part of him wanted Edge to stay awake to keep him company but that would be selfish. Besides Edge almost always took a nap after breakfast anyway.

“Hmm, thanks,” Edge said before grabbing the blanket and curling up on the couch.

Once Blueberry was sure Edge was fast asleep he went over and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead. “Sweet dreams,” he whispered before moving away.

He spent the next few hours lounging around the house. He tried watching T.V. but quickly changed his mind about that upon seeing the violence (which he was pretty sure was real) that apparently passed for entertainment in this universe. Instead he pulled out the deck of cards he’d found yesterday and busied himself with that until Edge woke up.

“What’cha doing?” Edge asked from behind him. Blueberry hadn’t even realized he’d woken up until he spoke.

“Trying to build a house of cards.” Trying and failing. He’d never had a very steady hand when it came to stuff like this, he was too impatient and moved too fast. It annoyed it sometimes but he refused to give up, he could do it if he just practiced enough. He could do _anything_ if he just tried hard enough.

“Can I help?”

“Sure.”

Edge sat down across from him at the table and started balancing cards, adding to Blueberry’s sorry excuse for a card house base. Edge proved to be better at it than him but only slightly. He had a steady hand but had never done anything like this before. But like in cooking he learned fast, and with Blueberry’s direction they soon had simple but complete and intact house of cards on the table.

“Now what?” Edge asked.

“Now I guess we leave it until it falls down and then we clean it up.”

“That seems kinda pointless. Working so hard on something that’s just gonna fall apart.”

“It’s fun though. Don’t you think?” Blueberry smiled at him. “And it was extra fun working on it together with you.”

“Uh, yeah I guess so,” Edge said with a small smile of his own. “Anyway I was thinking, instead of me taking you home tomorrow how ‘bout we do it tonight after dinner or something? I figure since I’m gonna need to sleep afterwards anyway might as well do in the evening.”

“If you’re sure you’ll be okay.” Blueberry was a bit nervous about it because of what happened last time, but he _really_ wanted to go home. Home where it was safe and not stressful, and where he could begin trying to convince Edge to stay with him.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay. I’ve slept a lot the past two days so it should be fine.”

“All right then, we’ll go home tonight after supper and after we’ve made sure their house is clean. Wouldn’t want them coming home to a mess after everything they did for us.”


	38. Home Safe

Once the usual crushing blackness ended, (Blueberry was actually starting to get used to it a little) they were of course still in the living room. But he could tell that it was _his_ living room and not one in another universe. Not surprisingly it was a bit of mess, because Blueberry hadn’t been here to keep it clean the past few days. But it was still home.

“Edge you okay?” he asked, remembering what had happened last time Edge had teleported like that.

“Um, yeah I’m good. I think I might be starting to get a little better at this,” he said swaying on his feet for a few seconds before slumping down on the couch. “But I’m gonna take a nap now.” With that he lay down on his side, curled up and fell asleep.

Blueberry smiled wide as a rush of joy and relief ran through him. Edge was okay, nothing bad had happened. And they were home at long last.

“Ah, we’re finally home,” he whispered with barely contained excitement before giving Edge a gentle kiss on the forehead. “And when you wake up tomorrow, I’ll make you want to stay with me.”

First he’d have to take Edge upstairs and then find wherever Papyrus had run off to (probably Muffet’s again) and then clean the living room.

But before he could set about doing any of those things the front door opened. Blueberry felt another rush of joy when he saw it was his brother. And before Papyrus had time react or even try to say anything Blueberry ran over and hugged him.

“Oh Paps you have no idea how good it is to see you again,” he said in rush clinging tightly to Papyrus, who smelled like he’d been drinking but Blueberry couldn’t care less about that right now. “I missed you so much, you have no idea. Even though I know it wasn’t really _that_ long, it felt like forever. So much happened, and… and Edge almost died, it was so scary. But he didn’t and he’s okay now he brought us home. Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to finally be back.”

“I missed you too Sans,” Papyrus said once Blueberry had finished rambling. “You have no idea how happy I am that you’re back and that you’re safe. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”

“If the current state of the living room is anything to go by, you’d probably make a huge mess and then never clean it,” Blueberry said as their tight hug finally came to an end.

“Yeah bro, sorry. I was just so worried about you that I…” Papyrus trailed off with a shrug. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not that mad about it. I understand.” Blueberry was too excited and happy to be annoyed about it right now. He could almost jump for joy over how wonderful it was to finally be back home.

“What even…” Papyrus cut off as he walked towards the couch, grimacing at the sight of the very visible crack in Edge’s skull. “What happened to him?”

“We kind of got into a fight with his brother and he got hurt because of it. I uh might’ve been able to prevent it if I had jumped out to help sooner.”

“You got into fight with his brother? I swear to god if that bastard hurt you, I’ll hunt him down and make him pay, I don’t care if he is in another universe.”

Blueberry was a little surprised by how close that sentiment was to Edge’s promise to hurt anyone who tried to hurt him as well. Well he was certainly very well protected; between his brother and almost-boyfriend no one would ever get away with trying to hurt him. It was nice that they cared about him enough to want to protect him like that, even if he was capable of taking care of himself.

“No, I’m fine, he didn’t hurt me,” Blueberry assured him. “He tried but my defensive skills were too good for him.” Despite everything he was proud of how well he’d fared against Edge’s brother. His Royal Guard training has served him well; he hadn’t been hit _once_.

Papyrus breathed and obvious sigh of relief, even though he didn’t look completely relaxed yet. “What happened anyway? If you were fighting his brother that must mean you were in his universe,” he said.

“Edge wanted to leave because he felt like he didn’t belong here.” Blueberry still felt bad about that. How could he have not known that Edge had been feeling that way? “Only I wouldn’t let him, but I couldn’t stop him and accidentally got dragged along as well.”

“Figures he’d pull a dumb stunt like that,” Papyrus said, displeasure plain to hear in his voice. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone else who’s the same special brand of stupid that he is.”

“Paps, don’t be mad at him it wasn’t his fault.”

“No, you and I both know that it was his fault. If he hadn’t decided that he didn’t belong here, none of that would’ve happened. And don’t say that you should’ve done something more to make him want to stay. Knowing him there was nothing you or I could’ve done that would’ve changed his mind.”

Papyrus had a point, Blueberry couldn’t deny that. But he still couldn’t feel any anger or upset towards Edge. Edge didn’t mean for any of that to happen. And in his own warped logic he’d probably thought his leaving would be a good thing, that that way he wouldn’t accidentally put Blueberry in danger. Too bad him trying to prevent that was what caused it to happen.

“Anyway Sans, why don’t we take Edge upstairs to your room real quick and then we can come back down here and you’ll tell me the whole story?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

Papyrus scooped Edge’s limp body up in his arms. “What happened to his coat?” he asked as they started heading for the stairs.

“His brother… pinned him to the ground,” Blueberry replied. He remembered how scared he had been when he saw that happen. He’d thought for a few agonizing seconds that Edge’s bro was about to kill him.

“Oh, I see…” Papyrus said with sudden tension obvious in his voice. Once he reached the door to Blueberry’s he paused, waiting for Blueberry to open it.

Blueberry opened the door allowing Papyrus to go in and lay Edge on the bed. Blueberry gently pulled off Edge’s shoes and coat, putting them to the side. The coat really was a mess, they’d either need to stitch it up or perhaps get him a new one. Maybe a gift like that might also help convince him to stay. Blueberry would have to look into sometime soon.

Blueberry tucked Edge in before giving him the usual kiss on the forehead. “Tomorrow I’m going to convince you to stay,” he promised in a whisper before turning back around to follow Papyrus out. Papyrus looked a tad surprised about the kiss but didn’t say anything.

“Okay now tell me everything starting from the beginning,” Papyrus said pulling out a cigarette and lighting it once they were back downstairs and seated on the couch.

And so, Blueberry told him everything. Even the parts he didn’t really want to talk about, like Edge’s bro dying right in front of him and the arguments Edge had had with Black Sans and his brothers. As he talked Papyrus’ expression changed to varying degrees of shock, anger, and sadness. But he never interrupted, no matter how upset Blueberry’s story made him.

“Wow, that was quite something,” Papyrus said lighting up another cigarette after Blueberry had finished his tale. “I’m sorry ya had to experience all that. But I’m glad you and Edge are back safe.”

“Yeah me too,” Blueberry said. That had been the most stressful few days of his life and he was glad they were finally over. “Anyway Paps do you think Edge might try to leave again when he wakes up?”

“Knowing him, yeah probably. But when he wakes up I’m gonna have a little chat with him about his stupid self-destructive idiocy.”

“Are you mad at him?”

“Yes, of course I’m mad at him. What he did was stupid beyond belief. Not only did he try to run away and put himself in danger but when you tried to stop him he put you in danger too. I know he didn’t do it on purpose, but that doesn’t change the fact that he did it.”

“But you’ll still help me try to convince him to stay, right?” Blueberry asked. Even if he couldn’t be upset about it himself he could sort of understand why Papyrus was.

“Of course I will, I want him to stay too even if he is a stupid idiot sometimes.”

There was a short pause in the conversation as Papyrus took a long draw form his cigarette. It was starting to get late and would be time to head for bed soon.

“Paps, I think I might be in love with Edge.” As soon as he said Blueberry knew it was true. It had been in the back of his mind all day. He thought of Edge as his best friend, but with his other friends as much as he cared about them, he never wanted to hold and cuddle them the way he did with Edge.

“Ah bro, I already know that,” Papyrus replied.

“What really? You do?”

“Yeah, you two are adorable when you’re doing stuff together. I thought about saying something to ya about it, but figured it’d be more fun to see how long it took ya to figure it out for yourself. What eventually made you realize it?”

“Those other versions of us kind of assumed me and him were… lovers.” Blueberry felt himself blushing slightly at remembering how that conversation had gone, about just _what_ they had assumed him and Edge were doing. “Do you think Edge might feel the same?”

“Yeah bro, I can almost guarantee that he feels the same. And I think he might be aware of it, but is too much of a coward to say anything or make a move.”

Blueberry felt another surge of joy at that thought. Papyrus was good at reading people if he said Edge felt the same then Edge probably felt the same. And if Edge felt the same that meant he would definitely decide to stay once Blueberry revealed his own feelings. Oh, he couldn’t wait to talk with Edge about it tomorrow.


	39. Don't Belong

As always Edge came to his senses slowly, not quite remembering what had happened or where he was. He was warm and comfortable though and didn’t want to get up yet, even though he knew he should.

Blinking open his eyes he stared up at the familiar ceiling in Blueberry’s room. Good, he’d brought Blueberry home and finally fixed everything. He’d leave as soon as he recovered and probably not come back for a while.

“Good morning Edge, it’s good see you’re finally awake.” Blueberry’s happy voice came from the side of the bed. “Or I guess it’s more like ‘good day,’ since it’s in the middle of the day now.”

Forcing himself into a sitting position he saw Blueberry was sitting in the chair that Papyrus normally sat in to read bed time stories. Had he been sitting there waiting for Edge to wake up? And if so, for how long?

“Hey Blueberry,” Edge greeted him, feeling a little guilty that he’d made him wait.

“How are you feeling? You doing okay?” Blueberry asked with a smile. If he’d been waiting for long it didn’t seem to bother him.

“Okay I guess, still a little tired.” Edge shrugged as he positioned himself on the bed so that he was sitting facing Blueberry.

“That’s good, but um, we need to talk about something.”

Edge didn’t like the sound of that. But there were things they probably did need to talk about, like what Edge would do after he recovered.

“I want you to stay here with me in this universe. You belong here and don’t ever let anyone tell you different,” Blueberry said with complete conviction.

“But Blue you know I can’t, because I _don’t_ belong here. Especially not after everything that happened the last few days.” Edge wanted to stay but he couldn’t, he just _couldn’t_.

“But Edge you _have_ to stay because…” Blueberry leaned forward wrapping his fingers in Edge’s shirt collar, pulling him forward as well, and pressed their mouths together in a skeletal kiss. “because I love you. You have to stay because I love you,” he said with a smile once he pulled back.

Edge’s mind went blank as he froze in place and stared at Blueberry. He was unable to come up with a single thought let alone a response.

Did that _really_ just happen? Surely he was dreaming, right? The kiss and… and Blueberry _loved_ him, those things couldn’t be real, could they?

“Edge you okay?” Blueberry’s worried voice jogged Edge out of his stupor.

“I… c-could we do that again… p-please?” he said, voice barely above a whisper. He didn’t know what to think and wouldn’t be able to think properly even if he could but he wanted to do that again, if for no other reason to ensure that it had really happened.

“You mean kiss? Of course, we can,” Blueberry said with a smile as he slid onto the bed next to Edge before pulling him close to kiss him again.

This time the kiss was longer and deeper. Edge was more than a little surprised when he felt Blueberry summon his tongue, lightly brushing it against Edge’s fangs requesting entrance. Nervously he opened his mouth summoning his own tongue to meet Blueberry’s.

As their magic touched and entwined it felt almost like electricity was running through his whole body as his thoughts once more disappeared. Edge had no idea what he was doing and super nervous but it felt so right. He was more than willing to let Blueberry take the lead here, he seemed to know what he was doing.

After an all too short eternity they jumped apart in surprise at the sound of Papyrus voice coming from the doorway. “Heya lovebirds,” he said.

Blushing Edge looked over to see Papyrus standing in the now open doorway, leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe. How long had he been watching? Edge had been so wrapped up in what he was doing that he hadn’t heard the door open.

“Hi Paps,” Blueberry said with a smile even though he was blushing a little too.

“Hey Sans, why don’t you go start lunch? I kinda wanna talk to Edge about something real quick.”

“Um okay, is that all right with you?” Blueberry asked Edge.

“Uh yeah… it’s fine.” Edge wanted to protest Blueberry leaving but he’d have to talk to Papyrus eventually so might as well be now.

“I’ll be right downstairs if you need anything.” Blueberry gave Edge another quick hug and kiss before heading out the door, closing it softly behind him.

Papyrus waited until the door was closed before sitting on the chair. Edge bowed his head unable to meet his gaze. Papyrus had _every_ right to be upset with him, and no doubt was. After everything that had happened Papyrus probably _hated_ him and him walking in on them… kissing was probably one of the worst things that could’ve happened.

Edge still reeling from that kiss with Blueberry. Part of him wanted to think that it had been a weird dream but he knew that wasn’t true. They’d kissed and it had felt good and right. But now Papyrus was no doubt going to take that all away.

“First off,” Papyrus began in a calm tone, “I don’t hate you and I’m not gonna hurt ya. I just wanna talk, that’s all. You understand?”

Still unable to look at him Edge nodded. He wasn’t even afraid of Papyrus; he was just ashamed. Papyrus had forgiven him for his earlier transgression and had asked Edge not to do that again. But Edge had gone above and beyond doing that again and had brought Blueberry to his world and then to another world all too much like it. He was the worst, the absolute fucking worst.

“Okay good. Now that we have that out of the way, what the fuck we’re you thinking?”

Edge flinched at Papyrus’ sudden change of tone. He’d never seen this Papyrus mad or even upset before and he didn’t like it. Even though he deserved it and so much more.

“I… I’m sorry. I never meant for that to happen. I never wanted for him to get hurt or for him to see any of that.” Edge wanted to stand up to pace but Papyrus’ glare seemed to pin him in place.

“I _know_ you didn’t mean for that to happen. What I’m asking is why thought it was a good idea to try and leave in the first place.”

“I… I had to leave, b-because I don’t belong here.”

“Fine, why don’t you belong here then?”

“Because everyone here’s so nice and I’m… not.”

“Oh my gosh, _that’s_ your fucking problem?” Papyrus said sounding exasperated. “You’re not a ‘nice’ person so you’d thought you’d just up and leave one of probably very few people in your life who actually care about you?”

“I come from a violent world and I’ve killed people, lots of people.” Edge finally glanced up to see how Papyrus reacted to that. He didn’t look even the slightest bit surprised or upset by that.

“Yeah, I figured as much,” he said. “But do you take pleasure in it? Do you _like_ killing?”

“Well no, but when I have to do it I never feel bad about it. In fact, I killed my own brother and don’t feel any remorse over it at all. Actually, that’s the one kill I _do_ feel kinda good about. He _deserved_ it. He was trying to hurt Blueberry so I killed him,” Edge said. Even thinking about it made him feel a shadow of the rage he’d felt at the time. No one had ever deserved death more than his brother had in that moment.

“Yeah, Sans told me about that. And yeah I’d say he definitely deserved it. In fact, if you hadn’t killed him I would’ve hunted him to the end the multiverse to kill him myself.” Papyrus sounded and looked like he was completely serious, even though this world was nicer and more lenient.

“What else did Blue tell you about what happened?” Edge asked dreading the answer.

“He told me everything, including about what happened in that second world you brought him to.”

“I’m sorry. I should’ve brought him home after… after what happened with my brother. But I wasn’t thinking and I’m really super dumb. I’m sorry.” Edge felt like he was being crushed under the weight of the shame and guilt over what had happened. Of just how much he’d put Blueberry in danger and through emotional stress. “Y-you can punish me if you want to. I definitely deserve it.” He bowed his head again, _wanting_ Papyrus to hit him.

“You doing dumb shit like this kinda makes me _want_ to slap some sense into ya. But that wouldn’t accomplish anything, so stop being a whiny bitch and look at me.”

Edge flinched as he forced himself to look up at Papyrus again. He still looked mad (had every right to be) but he didn’t make any move to hit Edge even though Edge had basically asked him to.

“Good,” Papyrus said. “Now back to the issue at hand, I thought I told you _not_ to do anything like that ever again.”

“I know and I didn’t mean to. I wanted to leave so that that wouldn’t happen. Only Blueberry was there and… I shouldn’t’ve done it when he was close enough to touch me like that. I’m so sorry. I’m the fucking worst, I know. I… I’ll leave tomorrow or maybe the next the day and… and you’ll never have to see me again I promise.”

“Oh my gosh Edge, could you be any more of an idiot?” Papyrus asked facepalming. “I’m not asking you to leave. I don’t even _want_ you to leave.”

“But w-why not?” Edge asked forcing himself not to shy away again. How could Papyrus want him to stay after everything that had happened? He should want to protect his baby brother from dangers like Edge, even if that danger wasn’t intentional.

“Because I don’t hate you. Even if I am very upset with you right now that doesn’t mean I hate you or want you to leave.”

“You _should_ hate me though, I deserve it.” Edge didn’t understand why Papyrus didn’t loath him after everything that had happened.

“Well I don’t. I can’t hate you knowing how much you care about Sans and how much he cares about you. Even if you are a moron sometimes.”

“I don’t deserve that. He should hate me too after everything I put him through the past few days.” But he didn’t, he’d said that he… loved Edge instead. It was incomprehensible.

“Edge you are literally the only one here who hates yourself, and it’s really starting to get on my nerves. You need to realize that your stupid self-destructive attitude isn’t just hurting yourself. It also hurts everyone who cares about you, especially my brother. If you hadn’t decided to leave all that shit you put him through the past few days wouldn’t’ve happened.”

“I… I know.” Edge couldn’t deny those facts. If he hadn’t decided to leave, Blueberry wouldn’t have had to go through all that. “I’m really sorry. I’ll never be able to make up for this.”

“There is one thing you could do to _try_ to make up for it,” Papyrus said.

“What’s that?”

“The one thing that would make my brother happier than anything else.”

“And uh, that is?”

“C’mon now Edge, I know you’re not very smart when it comes to stuff like this but you’re also not that dumb either.”

Edge sighed, he knew what Papyrus was implying. But that didn’t mean he wanted to say it. “Me agreeing to stay?” he said, voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes, exactly,” Papyrus said.

“But I can’t, I don’t belong here.”

“And who’s the judge of where you do and don’t belong?”

“But if anyone found out about some of the shit I’ve done… they’d want to kick me out.” Edge was still surprised that both Papyrus and Blueberry seemed to be okay with it.

“So what? Don’t tell them then,” Papyrus said as if Edge were being dumb.

“But I don’t deserve…”

“Again who’s the judge of what you do and don’t deserve?” Papyrus cut him off. “I can tell you _want_ to stay, you’re just being a giant ass about it. If you staying here with my bro would make you happy you should do it.”

“But I…” Edge couldn’t think of any good arguments against that.

“Look my bro makes you happy, right?” Papyrus asked. Edge simply nodded in response. “And when you’re not being a self-destructive moron you make him happy too. And you want him to be happy, right?” Again, Edge nodded. “Then you know what you have to do to make him happy.”

Edge staying would undoubtedly make Blueberry happy. But there had to be a reason he couldn’t stay. He didn’t belong here; this wasn’t his home. But the mere thought of never seeing Blueberry again hurt, especially after what Blueberry had told him earlier. And he was welcome here, despite everything they had both made it obvious that they wanted him to stay. And him leaving would upset Blueberry again, something he’d already done far too much of.

“O-okay, I’ll stay.” Edge spoke soft enough that he wouldn’t have been surprised if Papyrus hadn’t heard him.

“Good. Was that so hard? Now you’re gonna tell Sans that.” Papyrus stood up. “And you better not ever try to leave and break my bro’s heart again, you hear me?”

“I already said I’ll fucking stay, what more do you want?” Of course, Edge didn’t want to break Blueberry’s heart, that had never been his intention. He’d just wanted to keep Blueberry safe.

“Don’t even do you universe hopping trick unless I know about it and you have a good reason.”

“Yeah, sure whatever.” There wasn’t anything anyone could do to stop him from doing that if he really wanted, but he’d probably listen to Papyrus’ orders anyway.

Gesturing for Edge to follow him, Papyrus walked over and opened the bedroom door. Blueberry was waiting on the other side looking tense and a little nervous. “Um, lunch is ready,” he said.

“Good, you two talk, I’ll wait for you downstairs.” Papyrus gave Edge a light push towards Blueberry before heading down the stairs.

“So, how was your talk with Paps?” Blueberry asked.

“It was… okay.” More like extremely stressful. “I’ve uh… decided to stay.”

Blueberry’s face lit up in the brightest smile Edge had ever seen. “You mean… you’ll stay here in this world, with me?” he asked.

“Y-yeah.” Edge nodded.

Blueberry squealed in joy before suddenly hugging him tight. “Oh I’m so happy, you have no idea,” he said pulling back to bounce on the balls of his feet a bit before hugging Edge again, tight enough to hurt his broken ribs but he didn’t really care. “Oh Edge, I love you so much.”

Edge wasn’t entirely sure what love was supposed to feel like but he did know Blueberry was the most important person in the multiverse to him. “I uh… love you too,” he whispered.

Edge hadn’t thought it was possible for Blueberry to get any happier, but he did. He was practically vibrating with happiness, seemingly unable to decide if he wanted to continue hugging Edge or bounce around for joy. “That’s awesome, you’re awesome! I love you so much and you’re staying and I’m so happy and, and I love you and everything’s awesome.” Blueberry kissed him again for an all too short a time before pulling back, too excited and happy to hold still for long.

Edge had never seen him this happy before and it made his metaphorical heart melt. It was almost infectious though a bit exhausting too. Blueberry was finally as happy as he deserved to be and even if Edge didn’t belong here or deserve any of this if him staying made Blueberry _this_ happy he’d gladly do so.


	40. Healer

“Guess what Paps, Edge said he’ll stay,” Blueberry announced loudly as they descended the stairs. He wouldn’t have ever thought it was possible to be as happy as he was in that moment. He could barely keep still, even after he’d calmed down a little after several minutes of alternating between bouncing around in excitement and hugging Edge. Edge was going to stay. He was going to stay and be happy with Blueberry for ever and ever. And Edge had said that he loved him too. Everything was just so perfect and wonderful.

“That’s good to hear,” Papyrus said. He was lounging on the couch smoking a cigarette.

“Oh, Edge isn’t it awesome?” Blueberry smiled wide at him, bouncing the balls of his feet a little. They were of course holding hands like they always did whenever they went somewhere together.

“Yeah I guess.” Edge smiled back at him, it was small and a bit shy but he did smile back. Even though he wasn’t super expressive Blueberry could tell that he was happy. Edge being happy was awesome, after all the stress he’d put himself through the past few days he deserved to finally be happy.

Blueberry kissed him again. He wasn’t sure if he would ever get over how much he liked kissing Edge and Edge kissing him back. It felt so right and good. He felt like he could kiss and cuddle with Edge every day for the rest of his life and never get tired of it.

“Is your bro really okay with us being like this?” Edge asked in a whisper.

“Yeah, I told him how I felt about you last night and he’s cool with it,” Blueberry assured him. “Anyway it’s time for lunch. I burnt the meat a little but it’s not that bad.” He still felt so giddy and excited he wasn’t sure if he could sit still long enough to eat.

He skipped into the kitchen still holding Edge’s hand, Papyrus following a few steps behind. As they ate, Blueberry had trouble holding still, he wanted to bounce around a hug Edge some more. But he refrained from doing so, even though he looked happy too he also looked tired as well. His empty eye socket probably contributed to that look some, but he was always tired after teleporting between universes. Blueberry decided he’d insist Edge go see a healer about his injuries after lunch.

He also looked weird without his black coat on. That morning Blueberry had made special arrangements to get Edge a new coat. None of the stores had a black coat like that one so Blueberry had had to make an order to get one specially made. He’d hopefully be able to surprise Edge with it in the next few days.

***

“Edge I think it’s time for you to go see a healer about your eye,” Blueberry said as soon as they were done with lunch and putting the dishes away.

“It’s fine though,” Edge assured him. “It’ll heal in a few months and be good as new.” Except for the inevitable scar, but he already had enough of those for one more not to make much of a difference.

“Yeah but I can tell it probably hurts and I don’t want you to be in pain.”

It did hurt quite a bit but Edge had a lot of practice with ignoring pain. Besides he’d had worse, this wasn’t life threatening unless he got hit there again. But as much as he wanted to insist on not going to a healer he couldn’t say ‘no’ to the look on Blueberry’s face.

“Fine, I’ll go see healer,” he said with a sigh. “But only if you come with me.”

“Of course I’ll go with you. You are my boyfriend now after all.”

Edge blushed a little at the realization that that was true. Him and Blueberry were now basically a couple, something he’d thought would never happen. It was kind of exciting though, knowing Blueberry… loved him for whatever reason, even if he didn’t deserve it.

“Come on now, let’s go.” Blueberry gave him a quick kiss before taking his hand and leading him towards the door.

“You two have fun,” Papyrus said called after them.

It didn’t take them long to reach the healer in Waterfall. Edge had never been to see any sort of healer before. He’d never had enough gold to make it worthwhile. Healing magic was super expensive in his world, mostly having to do with the fact that few monsters were powerful enough in it to be able to heal anything more than a few scrapes and bruises.

“His magic levels are abnormally low, but not dangerously so. And he should recover after a day or two of rest,” the healer said after she’d examined him. She’d insisted on giving him a thorough check up as soon as he’d walked through the door. It had been all kinds of not fun, and Edge would’ve noped the fuck out almost right away if Blueberry hadn’t been there holding his hand.

“Yeah whatever, can we just get this shit over with so I can leave?” Edge said. Even with Blueberry there he didn’t like the doctor’s office; it was too clean, sterile and smelled funny. And having someone being all nosey with the examination was far too invasive for him to be comfortable with.

“What actually happened to your eye anyway?” the nurse asked.

“He got into a fight with someone and got hit,” Blueberry explained. He sitting next to Edge, holding his hand. “You can fix it though, right?”

“Yeah, I should be able to. Just hold still all right.”

Edge wanted to protest but Blueberry would never let get away with that. So, he forced himself to hold still as the nurse’s hand starting glowing green. He couldn’t stop himself from cringing and squeezing his eyes shut as she pressed her hand to the injured side of his face. It felt warm as the pain was replaced with a weird but not unpleasant tingling feeling. Despite that he wanted to pull away, he didn’t like people he didn’t know touching him. But Blueberry gave his hand a tight squeeze, so he allowed it to happen.

After what was probably only ten minutes at most but felt like forever the warmth faded as the nurse _finally_ moved out of his personal space. He blinked open his eyes, surprised to find that he was seeing out of both of them again. The was pain was almost entirely gone too. Reaching up to touch it he felt that the crack had closed, leaving nothing but a scar. That was the fastest he’d ever gotten over an injury like that. No wonder all the rich monsters always went to a healer every time they got hurt.

“See Edge, isn’t that so much better?” Blueberry asked.

“Yeah, I guess is it.” Edge couldn’t deny that it was. “Let’s go home now please.”

“Oh but you should get your broken ribs fixed too.”

“Ugh, really?” Edge had almost forgotten about those. He’d had his ribs broken so many times now he barely even noticed the pain. But if it would make Blueberry happy… He obediently pulled off his red sweater so that the healer could get at his ribs.

The cat nurse gasped at the sight of his scar ridden body. Oh yeah, he had kind of forgotten about that. He’d stopped paying any mind to his scars a long time ago. Looking over he saw that Blueberry didn’t look surprised, meaning he’d no doubt seen them before. Probably one of the times when Edge had been unconscious after a teleport.

“What happened to you?” the nurse asked.

“More fights.” And times when he’d let his brother beat him. “Just get it over with.”

It only took the healer a couple minutes to mend the breaks in his ribs. But even that had felt like forever. But at long last it was finally over and he was allowed to go free.

“See that wasn’t so bad now, was it?” Blueberry said as they exited. Edge had been more than a little surprised to find that healing was free in this world. The healers were paid by the government instead of the people they healed. But it made some sense, there would be less people getting injured here after all.

“It was okay, I guess. I’d still rather not ever do that again.” Edge shrugged. “You wanna teleport home now?”

“I would but I need to go see Alphys and tell her that we’re back. I didn’t really have time to do it earlier because I wanted to make extra sure that I would be there when you woke up.”

Feeling a little flattered by that Edge took Blueberry’s hand and teleported them to in front of Alphys house. Blueberry used his free hand to knock loudly on the door.

“Oh Sans you’re finally back. Where have you been?” Alphys said in a rush as soon as she opened the door. “Did Edge drag you off to another universe again?”

“Well it’s kind of a long story, but yeah that’s what happened. It was accident though, he didn’t mean to do it,” Blueberry explained. “But I just wanted to stop by to let you know that we’re back. Oh, and also me and Edge are dating now, isn’t that exciting?”

Edge couldn’t believe that Blueberry had just told Alphys that. It wasn’t really any of her business. And she was going to no doubt tell Undyne, who would no doubt tell the rest of the Underground by posting about it on the internet.

“I knew you guys were going to get together eventually. And Undyne’s going to freak when she finds out,” Alphys said already pulling out her cellphone, probably intending to text or call Undyne. “She’s been texting me a while about how cute you guys are together and how much she ships you.”

Edge sighed. “Can we go home now?” he asked Blueberry. He was too tired for Alphys’ bullshit right now.

“Yeah sure, see you later Alphys,” Blueberry said.

Before Alphys could reply Edge teleported them home onto the couch. Papyrus was still there, lounging on his end of the couch as he smoked a cigarette.

“Hey guys, how’d it go?” he greeted them.

“Edge hates going to the doctors even more than you do,” Blueberry replied with smile. “But he’s all better now and everything’s going be fine.”

Blueberry wrapped his arms around Edge, pulling him close. Edge’s stress about Alphys and going to the healer melted away as he allowed himself to cuddle with Blueberry.

He was still a bit overwhelmed over everything that had had happened in the past few hours. First Blueberry had confessed love for him then Papyrus had pointed out how much of an idiot he was for wanting to leave, convincing him to stay in the process. And now him and Blueberry were officially a thing and everyone would soon know about it. It was a lot to take in and he should’ve been super stressed about it. But here cuddling on the couch with Blueberry he felt relaxed, he could get used to this.


	41. First Date

“You want to go on a date with me Edge?” Blueberry asked Edge the next morning before even giving him time to properly wake up.

 “Huh what?” Edge asked sitting up and stretching.

They were in Blueberry’s room (or was it their room now?). Blueberry had just come in and told him to get up and he had gotten got of bed yet. Blueberry was standing beside the bed with some sort of book in his hands and a smile on his face.

“You want to go on a date with me?” Blueberry asked again. “You see I borrowed this dating book from the library this morning, and it says when you want to be in a romantic relationship with somebody the first thing you do is ask them out on a date. So, you want to go out on a date with me?”

“You really wanna be in a… romantic relationship with me?” Edge still had a hard time understanding why Blueberry liked him like that. It was just so… bizarre.

“Yeah of course I do silly. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know, because you’re really super nice and could probably have anyone you want.” ‘Someone better than me,' Edge almost added.

“I want you though,” Blueberry said as if that made total sense as he sat down in front of Edge on the bed. “Maybe if I had realized it sooner I might’ve been able to stop you from trying to leave. But I’m not super smart when it comes to stuff like this and I guess I just needed to have someone point it out to me.”

“You’re talking about when other us and his bro assumed we were…”

“Yeah the way they said it was a bit… interesting. But it got me thinking about it, which is good since you probably wouldn’t have ever made a move.”

That was true. Blueberry was too good for him, he deserved someone so much better. But apparently, he wanted Edge for whatever reason, and Edge could never push him away.

“So… a date, huh?” Edge said. “Don’t you have to go to sentry duty or something though?”

“Normally yeah, but it’s the weekend. I’m supposed to take off on the weekends, even though I usually don’t because I like sentry duty. It’s almost like being a member of the Guard, though not quite.  But I figure that today we could celebrate you deciding to stay by going on our first ever real date, if you want to that is.”

“Yeah, sure a date sounds like fun.” Edge had never been on a date before and wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen during one. But Blueberry probably did so it would be fine.

“Yippee,” Blueberry said with a smile before wrapping his arms around Edge and kissing him. “The book says we’re not supposed to kiss until at least the third date but I don’t care. Now come on let’s go eat breakfast and then go on our date.”

With a large smile Blueberry took Edge’s hand, leading him out the door to the hallway. On the way past Papyrus’ door he stopped to knock loudly before opening it a crack. “Wake up Paps, it’s time for breakfast,” he called into it. Normally Blueberry woke Papyrus before Edge but apparently hadn’t today, probably because he’d wanted to ask Edge on that date.

“Hey bro, what’s up?” Papyrus mumbled as he dragged his feet out of the room.

“Me and Edge are going to go on a date after breakfast,” Blueberry replied bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.

“Good for you two then,” Papyrus said with a yawn as they all started for the stairs.

Breakfast was a rather quick affair with Blueberry being eager to be out on their date. Edge was still nervous that Papyrus would disapprove of him and Blueberry’s thing but it didn’t seem to bother him. In fact, he seemed almost normal even if he wasn’t being as friendly with Edge as he had been before. But at least he wasn’t being openly upset either.

“Me and Edge are going to go on our date now,” Blueberry said as soon as the dishes were put away. “See you later Paps.” He took Edge’s hand and lead him out the door.

“Have fun,” Papyrus called after them before Blueberry closed the door.

“So what are we supposed to do on a date?” Edge asked once they were out the door and walking down the street. He felt weird without his jacket on. But it had holes in so he’d left it.

He was surprised to find that it was a bit later in the day than Blueberry normally would’ve woken him. That was probably because he’d gone to get that dating guide from the library first.

“Well the book said that there are lots of different kinds of dates,” Blueberry replied pulling out said book and opening to a page near the beginning. “Things like: going out for ice cream, going to see a movie, a walk in the park…” Blueberry kept reading things out of the book as they sat on nearby park bench together. Edge sat close enough so that he could see the book as Blueberry held it.

They spent the next little bit sitting there with their shoulders pressed against each other as Blueberry read out the list of date ideas the book proposed. There were more than Edge would’ve thought if he’d ever given the matter any consideration. He didn’t really care all that much what they would end up doing, he was just glad to be back in Blueberry’s world where he could relax.

“… and romantic candle lit dinner,” Blueberry finished the reading the list. “So what do you want to do Edge?”

“Whatever you feel like doing is fine with me.” Edge shrugged.

“We could go to the Star Cave and get some ice cream.”

Having a goal in mind Edge teleported to them to Waterfall near where he knew the ice cream vendor liked to set up shop. Of course, Blueberry paid for it since Edge didn’t have a job and therefore had no gold either. He’d have to think about getting a job sometime soon, but not right now.

They then walked the short distance to the Star Cave. They found a good bench to sit on so that they could sit and look at the ‘stars’ while they ate their ice cream.

“So going on a date is like hanging out?” Edge asked.

“Well, sort of,” Blueberry replied. “But it’s more romantic with cuddling and kissing and stuff.” Blueberry emphasized his point by giving Edge a quick kiss. “Also hanging out is a thing lots of people can do together, but a date is just two people.”

“Okay, but now that we’re like a… couple or whatever we are, what does that mean exactly?” Edge’s knowledge of romantic relationships was even scarcer than his knowledge of friendships. He was a bit embarrassed to ask about it but he didn’t want mess anything up.

“It means we’re a couple. That we go on dates every so often like we’re doing right now. That we cuddle and kiss and that we love each other.”

“I see, I think,” Edge said.

Blueberry smiled before giving him another kiss. “Do you think the real stars are as pretty as this? Or do you think they might be even prettier?”

“I don’t know.” They would probably never know find out either. Another human wasn’t likely to fall any time soon or perhaps ever again. But wait, maybe they didn’t _need_ another human to fall. “You wanna find out?”

“What do you mean?” Blueberry asked.

“I mean what that other version of us said is true. There should be universes with the Barrier already broken or where it never existed at all. If I could teleport to one of those worlds and then get a human soul before coming back here we could break the Barrier.” As Edge spoke he instantly became attached to the idea of getting Blueberry to the Surface. He could give Blueberry the opportunity to see the Surface and the stars and freedom. For once he could do something that would make Blueberry happy instead of miserable or in danger.

“You really think that would work?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. Or another thing I could try is stealing one of the human souls from my world and bringing it here to break the Barrier. That way I don’t have to deal with finding a world with the Barrier broke.”

_That_ was what Edge was going to do. It was the quickest and most reliable way to get the Surface. Even if it was kind of dangerous it’d be worth it to make Blueberry happy. The thought of finally doing something _good_ for his new boyfriend filled him with a kind of determination he hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever.

“Is it really fair to steal a human soul from another world?” Blueberry asked. “That might ruin their chance of getting to the Surface for a long while.”

“That’s why I’d steal it from my world. Everyone there’s a piece of shit and if they ever did make it to the Surface they would try to wipe out humanity.” He wasn’t sure if that was true or not. But knowing his world it wouldn’t be good for the humans if the monsters made it to the Surface regardless of their exact intentions when going there.

“Well they can’t all be _that_ bad. You’re from there and you’re super cool.”

Edge almost objected being called ‘super cool’ but didn’t, that wasn’t the point. “All the important people who make all the important decisions _are_ bloodthirsty though. And anyone who’s not wouldn’t care enough to object and would just go along with it anyway.” Edge knew he’d still be like that if he had never met Blueberry.

“Well, if that’s the case then I guess we can try it,” Blueberry said still sounding a bit hesitant. “But I’m not going to let you go by yourself, I’m going with you.”

“Your bro would literally kill me if I brought you along.”

“We would tell him what we were doing first and he would probably come along as well. It could be a big adventure for the three of us, it’ll be fun.”

“Yeah but… my world is dangerous and…”

“That’s why all three of us would go. You’ll need somebody to watch out for you when you have to sleep off the teleport. And you might need back up when you try to get the soul,” Blueberry reasoned.

Edge _would_ be incapacitated for while after teleporting there, and might need help getting to and stealing a soul. But that would put all three of them in danger until Edge could teleport them home. Unless Papyrus could do it too. None of that would be a problem if Papyrus could teleport them straight home after they complete their mission.

“Did your bro ever try to do the universe hopping thing?” Edge asked.

“I don’t think so, why?”

“If he can do it too then we would only need to be in my world for as long as it took us to steal a single soul. After that he could teleport us back here.”

“Ah Edge you’re genius, that’s a great idea. And I imagine Paps can probably do it, that other version of him could so why not him too? When are you going to tell him about this idea? Because I think you should be the one who tells him since it’s your idea and only possible with your help.”

“I’ll wait until he’s less… upset with me before bringing it up,” Edge said. Besides Edge needed to recover for a bit anyways.

“He won’t be upset with you for long. He’s never been one to hold a grudge,” Blueberry assured him. “Besides I think he’s mostly forgiven you by now.”

“Yeah right. What I did was stupid beyond belief, no way he’s not still mad at me. I almost got you _killed_ and he knows that.” Edge was still upset with himself over that so Papyrus should be too.

“You always talk about it like _I_ was the only one in danger. But that’s not true, you were in just as much danger as me if not more. I wasn’t even hurt like you were and not to mention you almost _died_.”

“That doesn’t matter. It was my fault we were there in the first place so I have no one but myself to blame for that.”

“It matters to me,” Blueberry said putting his hand on Edge’s arm. “Your safety and well-being matter just as much to me as mine does to you. So, don’t always make it about me being in danger.”

Edge would never understand why Blueberry cared about him so much. But he couldn’t deny that it made him feel better.

“And Paps cares about you too,” Blueberry said.

“Yeah right,” Edge scoffed. After what happened he was lucky Papyrus was even willing to tolerate him.

“You guys are friends though, of course he cares about you. And since you’re my boyfriend now that means you and Paps can be best friends. Isn’t that exciting?”

“I guess.” Edge was pretty sure Papyrus didn’t want to be friends anymore, but he wasn’t going to argue with Blueberry about it.

But maybe after Edge got Blueberry to the Surface they’d be able to be friends again. And Edge _was_ going to get Blueberry to the Surface one way or another.


	42. New Coat

Later when lunch time rolled around they decided to go to Muffet’s together. Edge teleported them just inside the door which also happened to be right in front of Papyrus as he entered.

“Hi Paps,” Blueberry greeted him with a smile.

“Hey bro, how’s your date going?” Papyrus replied as they walked further in.

“It’s going great, right Edge?”

“Yeah,” Edge agreed with a slight nod. He was still surprised that Papyrus seemed to be totally okay with his relationship with Blueberry.

“I heard you two are dating now,” Muffet said to them as they approached the bar.

“We are, isn’t it exciting?” Blueberry replied with a large smile.

“How’d ya find out?” Edge asked. He wasn’t nearly as excited as Blueberry was about telling other people. It wasn’t that he didn’t want them knowing, but he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it either.

“The internet,” Muffet replied.

“Yeah,” Papyrus said. “Undyne made a post about it last night. Said Alphys told her that that’s what you guys said. And that she knew it was going to happen eventually because of how cute you guys are when you hold hands every time you go somewhere together.”

Figures, she’d make a post like that. Edge didn’t even know her all that well and he knew she was far too vocal about everything when she was online, the opposite of how she was in real life.

They ordered their food and moved to sit a one of the tables. Papyrus sat across from Blueberry and Edge, like he’d done the few other times the three of them had eaten here together.

“Hey Paps, you still think of Edge as a friend, right?” Blueberry asked once they’d all settled in.

Papyrus shot Edge a quick look before saying, “Yeah, I think so, even if he doesn’t.”

Edge shouldn’t be surprised by how nice and forgiving everyone seemed to be in this universe by now, but he still was. Just yesterday Papyrus had been openly angry with him but now he was saying they might be still friends.

“And you’ve forgiven him for trying to leave, right?” Blueberry asked.

“Mostly yeah. He did finally get over his bullshit excuses and decide to stay after all. Which made you happy.”

“And you care about him too, right?”

“As a friend and alternate version of my baby bro, sure,” Papyrus said. “But why ya asking all this?”

“Because Edge thinks you don’t like him anymore because of what happened when he tried to leave. I told him that you did but he didn’t believe me.”

“Nah dude, just because you did something stupid that made me upset with ya doesn’t mean I don’t like ya anymore. In fact, even if ya hadn’t dragged my bro along I’d have still been upset with you for trying to leave and putting yourself in danger.”

Edge couldn’t understand that attitude, but he was starting to get used to not understanding things. He’d already accepted that he’d never understand Blueberry, so why not Papyrus too?

“So, that means we’re still friends then?” he asked.

“Yeah, if you still wanna be friends then we’re still friends,” Papyrus said with a slight shrug.

“All right then, I guess we’re still friends then.” Edge felt better knowing that Papyrus was still his friend. Even if he didn’t understand why. But it was a good thing, his plan about getting Blueberry to the Surface would be much easier with Papyrus’ help.

Blueberry squealed in delight clapping his hands. “See I knew you guys would be bestest best friends ever,” he said giving Edge a tight hug.

 

A couple days go by. Edge had decided to wait until he was absolutely sure everything was cool between them before telling Papyrus about his idea on how to get to the Surface. It was possible he might think Edge was trying to come up with an excuse to leave again. Also, as determined as he was to do it he was a little nervous about bringing it up. What if Papyrus rejected it outright and Edge leaving to do it anyway would upset him again?

Him and Blueberry had just teleported home from Blueberry’s training session with Alphys when the mail service dropped a package on their doorstep. Papyrus was still out, probably at Muffet’s or wherever else he tended to hang out.

“Oh, it finally came,” Blueberry said with an excited smile as he brought the cardboard box in the house.

“What is it?” Edge asked following him to the kitchen where he lay the package on the table.

“You’ll see,” Blueberry said using a kitchen knife to slice through the packing tap keeping it closed. He then opened it and pulled out what was inside: a black coat with white faux fur lining the inside. It wasn’t exactly like his old coat had been, this one had fur more than just on the hood lining.

“You like it?” Blueberry asked, holding it up with a smile. “I had to get it specially made since they didn’t have one like it at the store, which is why it took a few days to get here. But it’s finally here.”

“You got this for me?” Edge asked taking it from his hands, and ran the backs of his hands along the fur lining. It was soft and smooth. And now that he had a closer look at it he could tell this coat was a lot higher quality than his old one had been.

“Yeah, since your old one got ruined I decided I’d get you a new one. So, do you like it?”

“Yeah, it’s cool, I like it a lot.” Edge had never received any kind of gift before, especially not one so thoughtful. He never would’ve guess that Blueberry would do something like this for him.

“Try it on I want to see if it fits,” Blueberry said bouncing on the balls of his feet with a smile on his face. “When I was ordering it I had them take my measurements since we’re the same size, so it should fit.”

Edge slipped it on, marveling at how soft the fur was. It fit him perfectly and he loved it. He’d missed wearing his old coat, not having worn it since he got back since the holes had kept getting worse. “When did ya have time to do this?” he asked.

“The morning after we got back while you were still sleeping,” Blueberry said. “And it looks really good on you. I debated a bit about having them make it _exactly_ like your old coat or having them put more fur on it. I decided on the more fur thing because of how soft it is.” Blueberry smiled as he touched the fur on the hood’s lining, it was fluffier then the fur on his old one had been as well as there being more of it.

“Thanks… for this,” Edge said almost shyly. He wasn’t sure what the proper protocol for thanking someone for a gift was.

“You’re very welcome,” Blueberry said with a smile before hugging him and pulling him into a kiss.


	43. Plans

“Heya Paps,” Edge said as he shuffled up to Papyrus who was smoking a cigarette as he leaned against one of the trees in Snowdin forest.

It was a couple days after Edge had got his new coat. He’d worn it every day since, and liked it more with each passing day. Even the pockets had soft fur lining them.

It was midmorning and Blueberry was off recalibrating his puzzles. As much as Edge loved Blueberry he would never be able to get into his puzzles. Luckily Blueberry didn’t seem to expect him to. Which made this the perfect opportunity to talk to Papyrus about stuff.

“Yeah,” Papyrus replied. Over the past few days he seemed to have totally forgiven Edge for his transgression. They were back on friendly terms and were technically best friends since he was the only other friend Edge had. Unless his occasional interactions with Undyne and Alphys counted, but he thought of them more as acquaintances.

“I was thinking about my ability to teleport to other universes.” Edge was nervous about bringing this up but he would need Papyrus’ help to make this happen the way he wanted. “About how I could I use it to get us to the Surface.”

Papyrus paused for a few seconds before replying. “Yeah there are probably worlds where the Barrier’s broken or never existed at all.”

“Nah, I’m talking about using it to break the Barrier in this world.”

“Really? How would ya do that?”

“Well uh I was thinking I could go to my world, steal one of the human souls from there, bring it back here and use it to break the Barrier.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Papyrus said thoughtfully. “Unless the Barrier only recognizes souls from this world. Also, there’s the fact that we’d technically be using two of the same soul. Unless the souls come from different humans, which is possible.”

That was the one thing Edge hadn’t considered in all the time he’d spent thinking about this over the past few days. It was entirely possible the Barrier might not accept a soul from another universe. And if the souls did come from the same humans, using a duplicate might not count.

“It’s still worth a shot though,” Edge said. There was no way he wasn’t going to at least try. And if it didn’t work he’d figure something else out. He could travel to other universes pretty freely after all, he could surely do something with that.

“Yeah I suppose it is, when ya planning on trying?”

“Soon, today, maybe tomorrow. The thing is I need you to come with me.” Edge disliked asking for help but couldn’t deny he needed it in this case, trying to do it by himself would be tantamount to suicide.

“Well of course, ya think I’d ever let ya do something dangerous like that by yourself? But what do you need me for? Other than to make sure you don’t get yourself killed.”

“You’re kinda a lot like me and can do the whole teleport thing. So, ya might be able to teleport to other universes too. Meaning I could teleport us there and after we steal a soul you could teleport us back.” That would be best case scenario of course, there could always be something that went wrong like Papyrus not being able to do it.

“I have been thinking about trying it for a while now, ya think I can do it?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. That version of you in that other world could, so I think there’s a good chance you can to. And if not, you can just teleport us to safety until I recover and can take us home instead.”

“All right that makes sense.”

Edge had been thinking about this a lot. Trying to come up with every single thing that could possibly go wrong and how best to deal with it. He didn’t think he’d ever given anything this much thought before. His biggest worry was the Royal Guard members that would no doubt be set to guard the souls, but if his plan worked they wouldn’t be problem. “Every time I teleport to another universe I always end up in the exact same spot I was in in the previous one. So, my exact plan is, we go to where the souls are kept in this universe and hope they’re kept in the same room in my universe. I teleport us to my world, we steal a soul and you teleport us back here if you can. Or if you can’t, you teleport us somewhere no one will find us and we lay low until I can take us home.”

Of course, there would be problems if there were guards _in_ the room as well as outside it. And if the souls were kept in a different room there would be even more problems. But both of those things could only be dealt with once they were there. It was still the best plan he could come up with.

“So you uh wanna do it?” Edge asked.

“It’s dangerous, but I don’t think I can say ‘no’ to a chance at breaking the Barrier. So yeah, let’s do it.”

Edge let out a sigh of relief, he had no idea what he would’ve done if Papyrus hadn’t agreed to help. There was no way he’d have be able to do it by himself without getting killed. Now all they had to do was hope everything would go according to plan. “So when ya wanna go for it?” he asked.

“How ‘bout this afternoon? After we’ve had some time to prepare and stuff.”

“Sounds good,” Edge said. “We should also probably tell Blue.”

“He’s gonna wanna come with us,” Papyrus said as he stamped out the butt of his spent cigarette in the snow with his shoe.

“Ya gonna let him?” Edge knew there was no way he himself would be able to talk Blueberry out of accompanying them and wasn’t sure he wanted to. It would be dangerous but Blueberry had proven he was a good fighter and as long as he didn’t go up against anyone too strong it would be fine. He had never seen Papyrus fight either, he might be unable to defend himself for all Edge knew. If that were the case and they got into a fight when Edge was still incapacitated, both of them would be dust in no time.

Papyrus paused to think for a bit before replying. “We’re probably gonna have to. He’ll be very upset with us if we try to exclude him. And besides if all goes according to plan we’ll be in and out of there in no time.”

Meaning something would probably go horribly wrong. “Yeah,” Edge said trying to force down his pessimism. His luck had taken a turn for the better ever since he accidentally ended up in this world, hopefully it would remain that way for a little while longer at least.

 “Hey Sans,” Papyrus called as he led the way towards where Blueberry was finishing fixing up his last puzzle, a puzzle involving stepping on X’s to make them O’s that Edge already knew the solution to from just looking at it. “Edge has an idea on how to break the Barrier.”

“So he finally told you about that?” Blueberry said with a smile as he turned to face them. “He talked with me about it a little while ago, but didn’t want to bring it up with you when he thought you were still mad at him. So, have you agreed to try it?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna try later today, after we’ve made some preparations and stuff.”

“Yippee, we’re finally going to see the Surface,” Blueberry said with a large smile, clapping his hands. “And don’t you guys dare try to tell me I can’t go. You two are my two most favourite people in the whole world, I have every right to come along and make sure you’re okay. I am going to be a member of the Royal Guard one day and therefore it is my duty to make sure you guys come back safe.”

“Yeah bro, don’t worry ‘bout it, we’ve already decided you can come with us,” Papyrus said.

“Just be careful, okay?” Edge said. “If you got hurt because of this…” Edge couldn’t even bear the thought, if Blueberry got hurt it would be his fault and he would never be able to forgive himself for it.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be careful,” Blueberry assured him with a smile. “And you guys need to be careful too. You’ll be in just as much danger as me.”

“Yeah okay,” Edge said. “We’re uh gonna go sometime this afternoon, so uh be ready for that.”

“Okay,” Blueberry said full of enthusiasm. “To think, by tomorrow we might be on the Surface. We’ll be seeing the real stars and humans and all sorts of other cool stuff. Of course, I always knew that it would happen one day, but knowing it’s going to be so soon… Oh I can’t wait, this is so exciting.”

Edge hadn’t even done it yet and he’d already made Blueberry happy. Which was the whole point of this plan to begin with.

“And then we’ll get to have a date under the _real_ stars, won’t that be exciting?” Blueberry said.

“Yeah, that would be fun.” Edge couldn’t lie, he liked that idea. Back before he’d given up on ever seeing the Surface he’d been fascinated by the idea of stars. There wasn’t a whole lot of information about them in the Underground, but what he had managed to find had only fed his fascination with them. Up until he’d realized the meaninglessness of life and given up on ever seeing them anyway. But now seeing them wasn’t only a possibility, it was a certainty if his plan worked.

Blueberry smiled before hugging him tightly. “Hmm, Edge I love you so much.”

“Love ya too,” Edge whispered before Blueberry kissed him. He nervously opened his mouth letting Blueberry slip his tongue in, summoning his own to meet it. Their magic touching still felt almost electric.

“Uh guys, did you forget I’m standing right here?” Papyrus’ voice interrupted them after a few seconds, causing them to jump apart in surprise.

Edge tried unsuccessfully to use his hands to cover the bright red magical blush taking over face. He’d forgotten Papyrus had been standing right there next to them, able to see and hear everything that passed between them.

“Um we should probably get back to work now,” Blueberry said. He was also blushing a little too, though not nearly as much as Edge was. “We can enact our plan to break the Barrier after lunch and after we have everything prepared.”


	44. Stealing a Human Soul

“And that’s why we need access to the room where the human souls are kept.” Blueberry finished explaining their situation and plan to Queen Toriel.

The human souls were of course well-guarded even in this world, where it was less likely that people would try to steal them. So, they had gone to the Queen to ask permission to enter the room to enact their plan. Which of course meant they had to explain it and who Edge was. The task of explaining it had fallen on Blueberry, him being the only sociable one there.

“What about the monsters in your world?” Toriel asked. “Won’t that be potentially ruining their shot to see the Surface? You really want to do that to them?”

“My world isn’t a nice place,” Edge said. “Almost everybody there is violent and bloodthirsty, and the ones who aren’t are apathetic towards it. If they ever got to the Surface they’d try to wage war on all of humanity and try to kill or enslave all of them.”

“I’m still not sure I like the thought of doing that to another world… but if they are as violent as you say maybe it’s for the best,” Toriel said. “And you sure this will work? That a soul from your world will break the Barrier in ours.”

“Yeah, I hope so.” Edge shrugged. He couldn’t know that for sure until they tried it. It made sense though, a soul was a soul, surely there wouldn’t be that much of a difference between them even if they were from different universes.

“Can I ask why you’re trying to break the Barrier in this world?” Toriel asked. He’d never seen the Queen in his world, even though her personality probably more resembled Asgore without the bloodthirstiness.

“Like I said, my world is not a good place, so I uh… live here now,” Edge said, hoping she wouldn’t question him further. “And I uh, wanna do something good for him,” Edge gestured to Blueberry standing beside him.

“We’re dating,” Blueberry said proudly, giving Edge a quick hug. Edge couldn’t help but blush a little at the surprised look on Toriel’s face.

“You’re dating an alternate version of yourself? That’s… interesting,” she said.

“Yeah, but they’re different enough that it doesn’t matter,” Papyrus explained with a shrug.

“Very well then, I suppose we can give your plan a shot,” Toriel said regaining her composure. “Follow me, I’ll show you where the human souls are kept.”

The three of them followed her out of the throne room, where’d she been tending to the numerous flower beds when they’d first walked in. Instead of being upset with their disturbance she’d offered them tea. Papyrus walked right behind Toriel while Edge and Blueberry walked slightly behind him. Blueberry of course took Edge’s hand as they walked.

“Are you really doing this just for me?” he asked.

“Yeah, I want you to be happy,” Edge explained. As the day wore on he’d gotten more and more nervous about trying this. There were so many things that could go wrong, so many ways they could all end up as dust. But he’d already committed to it.

“You always make me happy.” Blueberry smiled wide giving his hand a slight squeeze. “And you’re going to be like a hero for breaking the Barrier. Me and Paps are going to be your super cool sidekicks.”

Edge wasn’t sure about being a ‘hero’. Heroes did things for the good of everyone, he was doing this just to make Blueberry happy. Also stealing wasn’t a very heroic thing to do, even if it was from bad people and for a good cause.

Before Edge could try to respond though they pulled to a stop as Toriel led them through a door guarded by two Royal Guardsmen. This was probably the room where the human souls were kept.

Inside the room was rather spacious, the walls all a uniform white like the rest of the palace, barring Judgement Hall’s golden hues. There were seven boxes all laid out in a row, big enough to hold an average sized person. Each one had a different coloured heart on top, upside down the way human souls supposedly were.

Toriel did a quick demonstration of how to extract the soul from one of them. She even handed them a small glass container that could be used to safely store the human soul once they stole it. She then left them to their own devices.

Earlier that day Edge had made sure to inform both of them about the possibility that there might be Guard members in the room. They had decided that however many there were would determine how they responded. He’d also informed Papyrus of all the places he was pretty sure would be safe, including the house since it should be empty, the area surrounding the Ruins’ entrance, and a few more spots he knew that weren’t frequently visited by anyone.

So, in theory everything should be fine. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that _something_ would go wrong. That was probably just him being paranoid, but before he’d ended up in Blueberry’s world luck had never been on his side.

“Everything’s going to okay,” Blueberry assured him, giving him a quick hug and kiss.

“Y-yeah,” Edge replied. “Now I guess let’s do this thing.” He put one arm around Blueberry and lightly touched Papyrus’ arm with his other hand and teleported them to his universe.

Suddenly too tired to be nervous, he was still relieved to see the room empty. He sagged against the wall as he fought the urge to go to sleep. He was getting better at this, he no longer passed out when he did it, just needed to sleep afterward. But he would fight his exhaustion long enough to see how things turned out.

“Wow, that was really quite something,” Papyrus said, looking staggered.

“It’s not so bad once you get used to it,” Blueberry said.

“Just get the soul and get us outta here,” Edge mumbled, fighting to keep his eyes open as Blueberry moved to support him.

“Yeah, of course,” Papyrus said before doing just that. He chose the closest one, the one with the orange heart on it. He did as Toriel showed them, luckily the boxes worked the same in this universe. Once he had the orange soul safely in the sealed jar he slipped in his hoodie pocket before moving over to where Edge was leaning heavily against Blueberry, barely managing to stay awake.

He placed one hand on Edge’s shoulder and the other on Blueberry’s. Edge felt a pulling sensation similar to how he felt right before he teleported but nothing else happened. He felt it again a few seconds later but still nothing.

“Uh, I can’t do it,” Papyrus said, sounding almost panicked.

“That’s fine,” Blueberry assured him. “Just teleport us somewhere else. Edge will take us home once he’s recovered.”

Edge felt the pull again but this time there was more as he felt himself being transported across space. He didn’t even try to figure out where Papyrus had teleported them to before letting himself fall asleep at last, collapsing into Blueberry’s arms.


	45. So Far, So Good

Blueberry wrapped his arms around Edge as he collapsed, scooping him up in his arms. Looking around he saw they were in a barren room with nothing but a ratty old mattress laying in the corner. There was a thin slightly torn up blanket and pillow laying on top. It didn’t look like there were proper sheets on it though. Other than that, the room was empty, without even a carpet on the floor.

 “Where’d you teleport us to?” Blueberry asked.

“This is where my room should be,” Papyrus replied. “Based off what I know about this universe and Edge’s place in it, I’m guessing this was his room.”

“Yeah, probably.” Upon further inspection Blueberry noticed familiar claw marks on the walls, with a large majority of them being above the head of the bed. They weren’t as deep as the ones in the trees, since the walls obviously weren’t as soft as wood, but they were still noticeable when one knew what to look for.

Feeling discomforted by the room and its signs of Edge’s distress Blueberry moved towards the door. It had no knob and there were cracks coming off the hole where the knob should’ve been, it was clear it had been broken off by force. The only thing keeping the door from swinging open was a small brick placed in front of it that would’ve done absolutely nothing to stop someone on the other side from getting in.

With a sigh Blueberry used his foot to move the brick out of the way. He then nudged the door open. The other side of the door had poorly repaired scars on it, as if someone had made a habit of throwing attacks at it. It was a testament to the door’s strength that it was even still standing at all.

“Wow this is…” Papyrus began, staring in astonishment at the door.

“Let’s not talk about it,” Blueberry said, trying and failing to keep the anger from his voice. He didn’t even want to think about why the door was so messed up.

The outside hallway looked similar to the one in his own world, except for the fact that the colours were darker. The other door, leading to what was Edge’s brother’s room, showed no signs of damage at all and was painted a solid black.

Papyrus tried to open it but it was locked. With a pop, he disappeared and a few seconds later the door swung open with him standing on the other side.

Blueberry gasped as he entered. The room was pretty much the exact opposite of Edge’s room. There was lush black carpeting on the floor. In the corner stood a huge four-poster bed with a fancy red and black bedspread and lace curtains currently opened. On the wall hung jeweled twin sabers in an X formation. Over all, the room was fancy and probably cost quite a bit to furnish like this.

“Wow, and I thought Edge was edgy,” Papyrus said. “Looks like Douchebag McGee never got over his emo phase.”

“He was an awful person,” Blueberry said with conviction. After seeing Edge’s old room this was disgusting. Why did Edge have to sleep on a ratty old mattress when his brother’s room was as nice as this? The more Blueberry learned about Edge’s brother the more he disliked him. How could _anyone_ be that _awful_? Especially to poor Edge, he didn’t deserve that.

“Yeah,” Papyrus agreed. “But since he’s dead we should be able to hide out here until Edge can take us home.”

That had been the plan, if Papyrus couldn’t teleport to other universes they’d hole up somewhere safe and wait it out. They’d even brought enough supplies to last them a few days in the event that this happened. Blueberry had hoped (and been sure that) Papyrus could do it though. But it would be fine, this house was empty and all they had to worry about was someone noticing the missing human soul and starting a hunt for them.

Blueberry walked over and placed Edge on the bed. Pulling off his shoes and coat before tucking him in with a kiss on the forehead. After some thought he put the coat on himself instead of putting it to the side. Partly because he wanted to wear it and partly in case if someone disturbed them, he could pretend to be Edge and tell them to go away.

“What now?” he asked huddling in the warm fuzzy coat. When Edge was sleeping, this was the closest he’d get to being hugged by him.

“I guess we just wait.” Papyrus shrugged not making any comment about the borrowed coat. “We should probably make sure the house is locked up, just in case someone tries to break in or something.”

A quick search of the house revealed that it was already locked up tight. The house not surprisingly was very similar to their own, expect with dimmer and darker colours. All the rooms were dirty from being empty for so long and Blueberry wanted to vacuum, but Papyrus pointed out that that would make a lot of noise. If anyone walked by they might hear and be inclined to investigate. Meaning Blueberry would have to do his best to ignore the mess. But at least it wasn’t an actual mess, other than the dirt everything was neatly ordered. It was even neater than Blueberry kept his own home.

“Can I see the soul?” Blueberry asked as they settled on the couch.

“Sure,” Papyrus said as he slipped the glass jar out of his hoodie pocket, handing it to Blueberry.

He’d never seen a human soul before, or an actual human for that matter. It was a solid orange colour instead of the white of monster souls. It had a faint orange glow as well.

“It’s upside down,” Blueberry said, referring to the fact that the pointed end pointed towards the ground.

“Nah, that’s just how human souls are,” Papyrus explained.

“Really? Does that mean humans would think our souls are upside down?”

“Yeah, probably.”

Blueberry smiled wide to himself as he realized that what he was holding in his hands was their ticket to the Surface. The Surface where there would be humans, the sky, the stars, and all sorts of other cool stuff. He still felt a little bad about stealing it but his excitement for seeing the Surface outweighed that feeling. Besides it wasn’t ending this world’s chances of seeing the Surface forever, just making it so that they would have to wait for two human souls instead of one.

“You have any idea when Edge might wake up?” Papyrus asked interrupting his thoughts.

“Well if it’s anything like the other times, probably middle of the night tonight or very early tomorrow morning. In which case, he’ll only be up for a little while before wanting to go back to sleep. And he should be able to take us back home, not tomorrow but maybe the day after. It’ll depend on how he feels. And once we’re home we’ll take the soul to the Barrier and break it, allowing us to finally see the Surface.”

“So we’ll only have to sit around and do nothing for like two days?” Papyrus said pulling out a cigarette and lighter. “Yeah, I can do that.”


	46. Unwelcome Visitors

Edge woke up having no idea where he was but Blueberry was cuddled up beside him, meaning he was safe. Opening his eyes, he sat up looking around the room. It was dark and he didn’t recognize the room, so his confusion about where they were deepened.

Carefully so as not to disturb Blueberry resting besides him, he crawled off the bed. He walked across the lush carpet to the door. Opening it he peeked out to the familiar sight of the upstairs hallway. He was in his brother’s room.

The realization filled him with an almost perverted glee. He was _never_ allowed in here, and the door was always locked. If he had ever found a way in his brother would’ve been sure to punish him severely for it, so he’d never bothered to try. He wanted to trash the room, with its expensive carpet and fancy bed, out of pure spite. The only thing stopping him from doing so was the fact that that would wake Blueberry.

Promising himself he’d shred the carpet with his claws sometime before they left he crawled back in bed with Blueberry. It was in the middle of the night sometime and even though he’d woken up he could still use some more sleep. The more he slept the sooner he’d be able to take Blueberry and Papyrus back home. And the sooner they’d get to see the Surface.

“Hey Edge.” Blueberry’s cheery but sleepy voice interrupted him as he tried to stealthily cuddle up next to him once more.

“Oh hey Blue, sorry didn’t mean to wake ya,” he said.

“It’s fine, I’m a light sleeper so lots of stuff wakes me up. How are you feeling?”

“Uh okay I guess. Where’s Paps sleeping?”

“The couch, he said your old room was too depressing.”

Yeah, ‘depressing’ was certainly a way to describe Edge’s old room. It looked even worse when compared to this room. But this room’s comforts explained where all the money they’d made went. His brother had spent it all on pampering himself, about what Edge had expected.

“Has anyone turned up looking for the stolen soul yet?” Edge asked. Hopefully no one would notice it was missing until after they were gone. That was unlikely though with how important the souls are and how paranoid about them Asgore supposedly was.

“No, and no one knows we’re here so even if they do start looking for it they won’t find us,” Blueberry said.

That wasn’t necessarily true. When hunting for fugitives the Royal Guard would often search houses known to be empty first since they made good hiding spots. But this house should be locked up tight with death traps set up to destroy anyone who tried to break in. The fact that this room was still intact was testament that those traps were still in place, and had either foiled anyone who tried to break in or everyone knew about them and hadn’t bothered with trying to find a way past them yet. The traps was the reason he’d recommended this place as safe, otherwise it would’ve been broken into and trashed.

“Let’s hope so,” was all Edge could say. Everything had worked out okay so far, not perfectly since Papyrus couldn’t teleport to other universes, but it could’ve been a lot worse too. They were only going to be here a few days and the hunt for the stolen human soul should start in the Capital. Snowdin being far away from the Capital would hopefully be the last place the Guard looked, they’d be long gone by then. So, everything would probably be fine, even if his pessimistic nature wanted to believe otherwise.

 

Blueberry woke him the next morning for breakfast. It wasn’t anything special, just stuff they had brought in the event that they would be stuck here. They didn’t even bother with the table the way they normally did, choosing instead to sit on the couch and eat.

“So what now?” Papyrus asked once they were done.

“I don’t know we could play a game or something,” Blueberry said. Edge was cuddled up against him, feeling like he was about to drift off. He should stay alert though; they were in his world and had stolen something important after all. But he felt so warm and safe, a feeling he’d never felt in his own world before.

He tried to keep his eyes open but it was hard. If he really wanted to stay awake he’d pull away from Blueberry, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that. As a result, it wasn’t long before he was drifting off to sleep.

It seemed like no time had passed before Blueberry was shaking him awake. “Edge wake up, there are people hanging around outside the door, we think they might be trying to get in,” he whispered.

Edge was awake and alert at once. Standing up he saw Papyrus peeking through a tiny gap in the closed curtains. He stepped aside when Edge approached, allowing him to peek through.

Edge froze when he recognized Undyne and several other members of the Royal Guard. They were doing a whole lot more than just hanging around. They were meticulously dismantling the numerous traps meant to deter intruders that Edge’s brother had always set up every time he’d left the house.

“We gotta get out of here,” he said grabbing Blueberry’s arm with one hand and Papyrus’ with the other. He tried to teleport them to his old sentry station out in Snowdin forest but instead felt a familiar jolt run through his body and soul as his magic was blocked.

“What was that?” Papyrus asked after he tried to teleport as well.

“Magic blocker, it’s standard procedure to bring them on hunts for dangerous fugitives,” Edge explained. Meaning they were probably searching for whoever stole the human soul. Why would they start the hunt in Snowdin though? Unless they thought its distance from the Capital meant its where the thief would choose to hide.

Magic blockers were something Alphys had invented a few years ago. They prevented any and all kinds of magic in a radius. How big that radius was varied based on how powerful the device was. On hunts for fugitives, especially ones deemed dangerous, the magic blocker brought would be one of the strongest ones and would therefore have a rather large area of effect. Meaning Papyrus and Edge wouldn’t be able to teleport away, even if they were at the back of the house.

 Magic blockers were a double-edged sword in that they prevented the Guard from using magic too. But a large portion of them didn’t need magic to fight effectively. And majority of them carried non-magical weapons anyway, even when they didn’t have to.

“We can hide upstairs,” Blueberry said taking the lead as he led the way upstairs. Edge knew from his own experience of being a Royal Guard member that they would probably search the house, so hiding would be useless. But he went along anyway. Maybe because of the previously undisturbed traps they would think no one was here and be lazy, searching only the ground floor.

They made it up the stairs just in time. Almost as soon as they were out of line of sight from the door Edge heard the sound of front door being smashed as the Guard forced their way in. They hid in Edge’s brother’s room, leaving the door open a crack so that they could hear at least some of what was going on downstairs.

“There’s no way the thief’s hiding in here. If they were all those fucking traps wouldn’t’ve still been up.” One of the Guards’ angry annoyed voices drifted up from downstairs.

“Yeah probably, but we’ve been ordered to search the entire Underground. That _includes_ places that should be empty. So, stop fucking whining and start searching.” Undyne’s equally angry voice replied.

“This is the former Commander’s house, right? That would make it a good spot to hide if he knew how to get around the traps or reset them. Everyone knows this place is supposed to be empty, so no one would think to look here.” A second’s guard’s voice added.

“Maybe they won’t come up here,” Blueberry said in a whisper.

“I’m not gonna count on that,” Papyrus said. “Edge what are we gonna do?”

“You’re asking _me_?” Edge shouldn’t be the one calling the shots here. How was he supposed to know what to do? He’d always made nothing but bad decisions every other time he’d been under pressure like this.

“It’s your world, I figure you know it best,” Papyrus reasoned. “There’s gotta be a way outta this, like some way to turn off that magic blocker or something.”

“Or maybe a backdoor,” Blueberry added despite the fact that this was the same as his house and he should know that there was no backdoor.

As long as the Guard had that accursed magic blocker active there’d be no way to teleport out. Edge couldn’t effectively fight with just his teeth and claws; he was too small and fragile for that even if he were up against a single opponent. And Blueberry and Papyrus didn’t have any sort of weapon, so fighting their way out wasn’t an option. Edge knew how to turn off the magic blocker but couldn’t do it unless he had it right in front of him. Even though because of his intense hatred for the things he’d be more inclined to smash it into a million pieces and burn said pieces into ash.

If the three of them were caught up here, they’d be searched. The human soul would be found and the three of them would face public execution and probably torture beforehand. Something Edge could never allow.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Edge said, fighting panic as his mind scrambled for a way out of this that didn’t involve them dying. “Paps you still have the soul?”

“Yeah.” Papyrus reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a bit of the glass jar containing the soul, enough for Edge to see the glowing orange soul contained within. Then slipped it back in.

“Okay, you guys stay here, I’ll either get them to go away or I’ll destroy the magic blocker and we can teleport out.”

“You can’t,” Blueberry said pulling on his wrist. “What if they try to hurt you?”

“I’ll be fine,” Edge assured him. “I know Undyne… sorta, she likes killing and stuff. But killing without reason is unprofessional. And besides they’re on an important mission, if I can convince them there’s nothing up here they’ll leave without searching it.” He wasn’t a fan of this plan either but it was better than the three of them trying to fight their way out.

“All right go, but be careful,” Papyrus said. It was obvious that he didn’t like this plan any more than Edge or Blueberry did, but there really was no other way. “That means don’t say or do anything dumb that’ll make them want to attack you.”

Edge almost made a joke about how he’d never done such a thing. But now wasn’t the time for it.

“Paps are you really going to let him go?” Blueberry asked.

“Yeah, him convincing them to go away is probably our best bet. If they find the three of us up here we’re as good as dead.”

“Okay, but Edge be careful and don’t do anything dumb, please,” Blueberry conceded with obvious reluctance.

“I’ll do my best.” Putting on his best poker face Edge stepped out, closing the door behind him.


	47. Undyne

“The fuck you assholes doing in my house?” Edge growled as he stepped up to the top of the stairs. He could sometimes surprise himself with how well he could hide his fear and nervousness, burying it under anger. But he couldn’t let his anger get out of hand this time.

“You,” Undyne said, voice full of hatred. She was standing at the foot of the stairs with one foot on the first step, she’d been about to ascend them.

“Yeah me,” Edge said forcing himself into a casual stance with his hands in his pockets. In truth, he wanted to pace around and claw things but he couldn’t let them know how nervous he was.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Undyne asked, giving him her infamous death glare.

“Around,” Edge said as he casually strolled down the stairs hoping to get a better read on the situation.

Other than Undyne there were six other Guard members. Including the Dog Guard, two burly looking armored guards from Hotlands that Edge didn’t know the names of, and a poor unfortunate young fox monster who’d been chosen to carry the magic blocker.

The low hum the magic blocker was emitting was now audible. It was a black box with a cylinder coming out of the top ending with a dish shape that amplified its magic blocking waves. They were fragile so someone always had to carry them in their hands when they were needed for a manhunt. That task always fell on the monster lowest on the totem pole, which back when Edge had been part of the Guard had _always_ been him.

Being that close to one for any significant length of time was a torturous experience, as well as unhealthy. Several of the manhunts where he’d been forced to carry one, under the threat of punishment, had dragged on so long that he’d ended up vomiting and eventually passing out from exposure to the thing. It had always taken him several days to recover when that happened. So, even though sympathy was something he normally lacked, he felt sorry for the fox monster who already looked like he was about to vomit.

“It’s Sans,” one of the armored guards said. Because his helmet Edge couldn’t get a good read on what he might be thinking but he sounded almost in awe.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Edge was eying the magic blocker, trying to figure out the best way he could go about breaking it. It wouldn’t even be all that suspicious for him to break it, almost everyone here knew he hated those things and had seen him purposefully destroy at least one before. Of course, he’d gotten punished every time he been caught doing so (and a few times when they had broken by accident and had nothing to do with him), but those things were the _worst_ things ever invented.

“Is it true you killed Papyrus?” the second armored guard asked.

“Yep,” Edge said with his best cocky grin. Maybe he didn’t have to bother with breaking the magic blocker, he might be able to convince them to just leave.

“Bullshit,” Undyne said with a growl, the fins on her face flaring with anger. “The only reason he was able to kill Papyrus was because he cheated. If it had been a fair fight Papyrus would’ve beaten the shit out of him like he always did.”

“But if Sans killed the old Commander of the Guard, doesn’t that make him the Commander now instead of you?” the fox chimed in. He shifted the magic blocker in his hands a little, obviously wanting to set it down, but clearly too afraid of incurring Undyne’s wrath to do so.

“That’s only the case if it was a formal challenge, which I highly doubt. And if it was, I’ll kill him right here and now,” Undyne said pointing her spear at Edge. It wasn’t one of her magic spears, but even if it didn’t burn with attack magic it was still a formidable weapon, especially in her hands.

Flinching, Edge took a step back away from the sharp spearhead inches from his face. “Nah, you can be Commander,” he said unable to keep the slight edge of fear from his voice. “Too much responsibility for me, ya know?”

“Good,” Undyne said lowering her spear but keeping a tight grip on it. “But I find it mighty suspicious that you decide to reappear the day after a human soul was stolen.”

“Is that what this fucking raid is all about?” Edge said, feigning surprise. “Why would anyone bother with that shit? There’s no way they’re going get away with it. And even if they do, how the fuck do they plan on sneaking past Asgore and his guards to get to the fucking Barrier?”

“ _Where_ have you been?” Undyne demanded, pointing her spear in his face again.

“I don’t think that’s any of your fucking business.” Edge considered grabbing the spear and forcing it away from his face but Undyne was physically stronger than him so that would never work. He settled for sidestepping closer to the magic blocker instead.

“You’re going to answer the question or else we’ll be forced to bring you in for questioning.” Undyne’s voice and facial expression promised that that what she hoped would happen. Her dislike for Edge seemed to have grown, probably having something to do with the fact that Edge’s bro and her had been comrades. Both of them enjoyed lording their strength over smaller weaker monsters and they had risen to power together.

If Edge hadn’t been aware of everyone staring at him before he was now. ‘Questioning’ meant torture, very few monsters made it out of questioning. And the ones that did were never the same afterwards. Meaning he had to come up with a believable story and fast.

“I’ve been hiding out in the Capital,” he lied. “I came back last time to get the rest of my stuff and ended up fighting Boss and we all know how that ended. I came back this time because I figure since Boss is gone I now get the house all to myself, and don’t have to deal with the fucking Capital’s bullshit anymore.”

Edge needed them to leave before he lost his mind. The fact that he was still mostly maintaining his cocky nonchalant attitude surprised him, there was no way he’d be able to keep it up for much longer though. Not with knowing how much danger Blueberry would be in if they decided to search upstairs.

“Where’s your clone?” Dogaressa asked. The Dog Guard, consisting of Greater Dog, Dogamy, and Dogaressa, had stood silently in the corner watching the proceedings until now.

 “I don’t have a clone and even if I did it’s none of your fucking business,” Edge growled. His ‘clone’ had to be Blueberry. Dogaressa and Dogamy had spread the truth about what happened when Edge had killed his brother. Not surprising since they were too dumb to lie about anything, otherwise they probably would’ve taken the credit for Papyrus’ death. Elevating themselves to Commander of the Guard.

“I’m not sure I believe you story about going to the Capital,” Undyne said, glaring at him. “I distinctly remember hearing you bitch about how much you hated that place every time you were brought along on a mission there.”

“Yeah well I don’t give a fuck if you believe it or not. I needed to get away from all this bullshit for a while and the Capital was the only place I could do that.” Edge growled again, glaring back. “All I really fucking care about right now is you fuck-heads getting the fuck outta here. I got shit to do and your fucking magic blocker is annoying me.”

Undyne glared at him for several seconds, her eyes cold and calculating. It felt almost like she could see right through him, and Edge found himself shrinking a little. Without his magic, he was defenseless, if any of the guards staring at him decided to hurt him his only means of escape would be running. But the only viable escape route was through the front door, which meant he’d have to run past them.

Under the guise of being uncomfortable with their stares, he shuffled a little closer to where the fox stood with the magic blocker. If he could break it he would instantly teleport back upstairs and then teleport to safety with Blueberry and Papyrus. But if he straight up went for it they’d stop him and then he’d be in trouble. So, he had to take them by surprise.

Undyne leveled her spear at him again. “You say you had no idea about the human soul being stolen, but you just happen to return the day after. And with a bullshit story about where you’ve been.”

Edge froze. “Y-ya can’t honestly be suggesting I had _anything_ to do with that, are ya? Ya know I don’t got the _guts_ to pull off anything like that. _T-tibia_ honest, I’m a bit of coward, there are a skele- _ton_ of things I’d rather do than do something that might get me dusted.” Punning as a deflection tactic had often worked with Boss, making him mad enough to forget whatever he’d been upset about before. Which often made the punishment less severe or least last a shorter amount of time. Judging by the annoyed angry look on Undyne’s face it was wasn’t working with her.

“No, I doubt you had anything to do with it, everyone knows how weak, lazy, and worthless you are. A fucking goldfish has more initiative than you.”

If it wasn’t for the spear still pointed in his face, following his every move, Edge probably would’ve told her to ‘shut the fuck up’. Which only would’ve made her even madder, the last thing he wanted right now.

“Y-yeah see,” he said instead, trying not to focus on the spear point inches from his face. “Why don’t you guys go back to looking for whoever _did_ do it? They gotta be around somewhere. Unless they already used it to cross the Barrier without somehow getting caught.”

If it had been almost anyone else that probably would’ve convinced them to leave. But the look on Undyne face said that she wasn’t done yet, she still intended to cause some kind of trouble for Edge.

“Yeah Commander Undyne ma’am, we should probably get going,” armored guard number one said. “If the king thinks we’re slacking off he’ll have us executed.”

“You’re right,” Undyne said slowly lowering her spear at last. “Arrest him for now, we’ll figure out his lies later.”

Edge’s sudden relief that they’d be leaving was dashed instantly. “What the fuck?” he growled, taking a step back.

“You heard me,” Undyne said. “Handcuff him, we’ll continue our search after we’ve made sure he won’t be able to run off again.”

The two armored guards shrugged as they stepped forward, one of them pulling out a pair of handcuffs. Edge tried to retreat but armored guard number one grabbed his wrist. With a growl Edge used his other hand to swipe his claws at the guard’s midsection. Unfortunately, his claws though very good against wood did nothing to steel plate armor, other than make a horrible screeching noise. The other guard used this opportunity to grab his other wrist.

The guards being twice his size easily wrestled his arms behind his back despite his frantic attempts at escape. And despite his struggles and loud curses, they easily cuffed his hands together.

“Fuck you bitch, I’m gonna fucking kill you. If that fucking magic blocker wasn’t here you’d be fucking dead, you fucking…” Edge was cut off by Undyne hitting him over the head with the butt of her spear. Not hard enough to do any damage or even hurt all that much but it was sufficient to shut him up anyway.

“Good, now let’s go,” Undyne said as she started leading the way towards the door, the rest of the Guard falling in behind her.

The first armored guard shoved Edge roughly towards the door. He was forced to take a few steps forward if he didn’t want to fall flat on his face. “Fuck you too, you stupid…” he was cut off by another shove.

The guard placed one gauntleted hand around the back of Edge’s neck, applying slight pressure that promised pain if Edge didn’t walk in the direction the guard wanted him to.

After the entire group had filed out of the house, they formed a circle around Edge. Undyne and the fox with the magic blocker were outside it, Undyne walking in the lead with the fox a few steps to her right and back a little.

The guard continued to force him to walk even as the dogs closed in him around. They sniffed at him and Greater Dog even licked his face, reminding him of all the times they’d tried to eat him or expressed their desire to do so. “Fuck off,” he growled at them, snapping his fangs at Greater Dog. They backed off a little, for now.

At least he’d gotten the Guard to leave the house without checking upstairs. As long as Blueberry was safe it didn’t matter that much. Now all he had to do was find a way out of this and everything would be fine.


	48. Arrested

“Shut the fuck up Sans,” Undyne yelled, the group pulling to a stop. They were about halfway to the jail and Edge had kept up an almost constant stream of swearing, death threats, and rude insults ever since they’d left the house. Undyne had kept quiet the whole time but it seems she’d finally gotten to the end of her patience.

“Why don’t you fucking make me you fucking cunt. I’ll…” Edge was cut off by Undyne smacking him with the butt of her spear.

“Somebody gag him before I fucking kill him,” she growled.

“I’ll bite the fucking hand off anyone who tries,” Edge growled. He meant it too, he’s bitten people before for getting their hands or arms too close to his face.

“Have the new guy do it,” Dogamy said.

“Why me?” the fox monster asked, his fear obvious to see on his face and hear in his voice.

“Because we don’t wanna be bitten,” Dogaressa said with a chuckle, taking the magic blocker from his hands as Dogamy handed him a gag.

“I fucking hate you guys,” the fox monster said with a growl as he approached Edge. Dogamy laughed, shoving the fox monster a little closer.

Edge growled at him, low and deep. Part of him felt bad about the fear he was inflicting in the other monster but another smaller part of him enjoyed it a little too. Not because he liked the thought of other monsters fearing him but because of his current powerless position. The fox’s fear of him gave him a small measure of power he otherwise wouldn’t have had, even if in truth it was really nothing but a shitty facsimile of power.

Also, there was a chance that resistance might offer an opportunity for escape. Doubtful but still possible. Either way though, Edge was _not_ going to sit there and let someone gag him.

“Hold him still,” the fox said, addressing the guard still holding him, as he moved closer. The guard was already holding him still so that hadn’t needed to be said, and was probably nothing more than a delaying tactic.

The fox took another step forward; he was almost in reach now. He prepared the gag, a long dirty looking cloth, holding it between his hands. Edge waited until he was starting to move the cloth near his face before lashing out, sinking his teeth into the fox’s wrist.

The fox screamed as he tried to wrench his hand away. But Edge refused to let go, biting down for all he worth. He could feel and hear the sound of the fox’s bones crunching under the force of his bite, blood pooling in his mouth. It was gratifying in a way, much like the feel and sound of shredding wood with his claws was.

All the dogs started laughing and cheering him on with barks and howls to show their support. They had always been a fan of violent games of tug of war. In fact, this was probably why they’d wanted the fox to be the one to gag him.

With an angry growl Undyne walked up to him, he expected her to hit him over the head with her spear again and was prepared for it. So, he was taken by more than a little surprise when she jabbed two of her armored fingers into his eye sockets instead. Startled by the sudden blindness and pain that caused he let go with a small yelp. Before he could try to do anything else, there was a rough cloth shoved in his mouth that was quickly tied behind his head.

“Why must I do everything myself?” Undyne growled as she stepped back.

Edge blinked his eyes a couple times as his vision returned. He saw the fox monster clutching his broken and bleeding wrist to his chest. There were tears in his eyes but he wasn’t making any sound. In a world like this if somebody complained about being in pain their only reward would be more of it.

Edge felt bad about that. It wasn’t the fox’s fault he was in this position and biting him hadn’t solved anything. In fact, it had made it worse for the both of them. If it wasn’t for the gag he probably would’ve apologized. Not that apologizing would’ve done any good in this situation since the damage had already been done. But of course, it was just like him to go and do something dumb after both Blueberry and Papyrus had asked him not to.

As they started moving once more, Edge summoned his tongue to see if he couldn’t push the gag out his mouth. All he accomplished was learning that it tasted like it had been pulled from the dump. He almost bite down to cut through it with his teeth but thought better of it. It was probably best if he just kept his dumb mouth shut for now.

They walked the rest of the way to the jail in silence, other than Edge’s occasional muffled incoherent curse and the dogs chuckling about the fox’s predicament. Even though his hand was injured he was forced to carry the magic blocker again. Making Edge feel even guiltier about inflicting unnecessary pain on him.

It wasn’t long before they reached the jailhouse. Undyne took personal charge of him, grabbing his handcuffed wrists and pushing him into the building. After instructing the person manning the front desk to turn on the magic blockers in the cells, she pushed him down the hall to one of the empty jail cells.

For some reason, it looked like he was the only prisoner here right now. This place had been almost overflowing last time he’d been here running an errand for Boss. Anyone who angered Boss even the slightest bit got arrested and thrown in here. The same should hold true for Undyne too, right? So, this place being empty was unusual.

“As much as I would like to deal with you right now, I don’t have the time,” Undyne said shoving him into the cell after freeing him from his handcuffs. “I have to find whoever stole the human soul first and _then_ I’ll have time to figure out how a weak coward like you managed to kill Papyrus.”

As Undyne locked his jail cell Edge tore the gag out of his mouth, using his claws to cut through it. “It was easy,” he taunted, throwing the cloth through the bars of the cell at her. “Why don’t ya fight me in a fair fight and I’ll show ya.” He didn’t know for sure if he could beat Undyne in a fair fight or not, but even if he couldn’t he could just teleport away. It didn’t matter if that was cowardly because he’d always been a bit of a coward.

“I’m not falling for you tricks,” Undyne growled before stalking away, the sound of her heavily armored footsteps audible until she passed through the door once more. Leaving him Edge all alone.

As soon as he heard the sound of the door swinging shut, he rattled on the cell door. Of course, that didn’t do anything, but rattling on the bars seemed to be the thing to do. He didn’t even bother trying to teleport or use magic of any sort because of the small magic blockers embedded in the floor of every jail cell. He knew because he’d been forced to help install them.

With an angry sigh, he turned to assess his cell. It was a small concrete room, not even big enough to properly pace in. There was a small bed in one corner. Odd since last time he’d been here the prisoners had been forced to sleep on a pile of old straw. A quick glance confirmed that the empty cell across from his also had a bed, so the rest of them probably did too. The cell was also cleaner than it should’ve been. And there was now a small barred window letting in fresh air and proper light. It was high enough that Edge would have to stand on the bed to reach it and even then, he’d barely be able to look through it.

Overall it was the nicest jail cell he’s ever been in or seen. Not that he’d been in all that many, jail was something he tried to avoid. And he’d never been locked up in this particular jail before. But every time he’d been here running some errand for Boss, he’d seen how crowded and nasty the cells looked. So why would it be all clean and nice now? But whatever, at least he didn’t have to deal with anyone crowding up on his personal space.

Feeling sick he forced himself to sit on the bed. He _tried_ to hold still and relax. He needed to think and plan and not freak out, but he couldn’t stop himself from fidgeting. He managed to sit for maybe all of one minute before he stood up and started pacing around the perimeter of the cell.

He couldn’t believe he’d gotten himself into this situation. He had known the Guard would come looking for them but he hadn’t considered what they’d do if the Guard found them. His only thought had been for hiding in place where the Guard wouldn’t look. They wouldn’t have searched the house if it wasn’t empty. And why did they even start the search in Snowdin to begin with? What was worse was if Undyne hadn’t been leading that group they wouldn’t have arrested him and everything would’ve turned out fine. But it wasn’t fine, he’d fucked up by not considering the possibility of something like that happening.

He froze when he realized Blueberry wasn’t here to calm him down and make him feel better like he had been ever since they’d met. And there was a possibility that he never would be again. If they found Blueberry they would _kill_ him, they’d publicly execute him for stealing the human soul. No, they’d torture him and _then_ publicly execute him.

Clinching his eyes shut he fought the urge to vomit. He _couldn’t_ think about that, he had to trust that Papyrus would keep Blueberry safe. In fact, everything was going to be perfectly fine as soon as they found a way to break Edge out, or until he found a way to escape on his own. They would then go back to Blueberry’s world, break the Barrier and see the Surface. The plan hadn’t failed yet, there was still hope.

Forcing himself to repeat those thoughts over and over, he resumed pacing.


	49. Wait

“Arrest him for now, we’ll figure out his lies later.” Undyne’s command drifted up from below. Ever since Edge had gone downstairs to get the Guard to leave, Blueberry and Papyrus had been listening in. They hadn’t caught the entire conversation but did hear enough to get the gist of it. And Undyne’s command to arrest Edge was unmistakable.

“What the fuck?” Edge’s angry shocked reply could also be heard.

Angry Blueberry reached for the door handle. He would never let somebody wrongfully arrest Edge like that. He was going to go down there and give them a piece of his mind. But before his hand touched the door, Papyrus grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t,” he said in a whisper. He closed the door completely, cutting off the sounds of commotion downstairs.

“What do you mean ‘don’t’? We can’t let them arrest Edge like that,” Blueberry said. How could Papyrus let something like that happen?

“We can’t fight them either,” Papyrus said. “As long as they have that magic blocker thing we’re defenseless against them. They’ll kill all three of us if we try that.”

“But… but we can’t just sit here and let that happen.” Blueberry again reached for the door handle but Papyrus stopped him again.

“Bro I know you’re upset, I don’t want this to happen either,” Papyrus said still speaking in a whisper even though with the door closed that wasn’t necessary. “But right now, they don’t think he has anything do to do with the stolen soul. If we go down there, they’ll find out about it and all three of us will be punished for it.”

Papyrus was right. It wasn’t fair, but Papyrus was right.

Blueberry’s vision blurred with tears. Tears of anger, sadness and frustration. He couldn’t help Edge. “What are we going we going to do then?” he asked, trying to not to let his tears spill over, but failing.

Papyrus put a comforting hand on Blueberry’s shoulder. “They’re only arresting him. Which means they’re gonna take him to prison and we’ll find a way to break him out.”

“But what if they hurt him?” Or god forbid, what if they killed him?

“There’s not a whole lot we can do about that right now. But he should be smart enough not to do anything that would make them mad enough to kill him.” That wasn’t necessarily true with how irrational Edge could sometimes get when he was mad enough. And being arrested was sure to piss him off.

How could this have happened though? Blueberry was supposed to protect Edge but he couldn’t. How was he supposed to do anything when he couldn’t use his magic? He’d tried to summon an attack to see if he could when he’d heard Undyne accusing Edge of having something to do with the stolen soul. All that had happened was he’d felt a strange jolt run through his body and soul.

“Why did they arrest him though? He didn’t do anything other than be rude to them.” Which seemed to be a perfectly normal thing in this world.

“I’m not sure, but it sounded like Undyne has some kinda personal grudge against him about something,” Papyrus said. “Look, once they’re far enough away for me to teleport I’m gonna see if I can’t follow them to see where they’re taking Edge.”

He opened the door a crack once more. There weren’t any more sounds coming from downstairs, meaning they had probably left. At least in the excitement of arresting Edge they had forgotten to search upstairs, so Edge’s plan had worked after all. Even if the outcome wasn’t ideal.

“You can’t go alone, what if somebody sees you?” Blueberry didn’t want to be left out of this. Edge was his boyfriend he needed to know if he was okay.

“That’s why I need to go alone. You stay here and hold onto to this.” Papyrus handed him the jar with the human soul in in it. And then before Blueberry could protest he disappeared with a small pop.

“Ugh, why did this have to happen?” Blueberry said glaring the orange soul through the haze of his blue tears. Everything had been going so well, not perfect, but it had looked like they’d be safe to hang out here until Edge recovered. Why had the Guard decided to search this house of all houses? Unless they’d been going house by house and this one had just been next on the list.

Angry and upset Blueberry settled down to wait for Papyrus. Hopefully, he’d stay out of sight and not try anything stupid.

It seemed to take hours and hours before Papyrus finally returned. Blueberry had at least managed to stop crying by then even if he was still upset about the situation.

“What happened? Did you find where they took Edge? Is he okay?” Blueberry asked in a rush.

“Yeah, I found where they took him,” Papyrus said. “And as far as I can tell he’s okay. Even if he did apparently say something dumb enough to get himself gagged and did even more dumb shit when they were gagging him.”

“What about breaking him out? Will that be hard? When are we going to do it? Do you have plan yet?”

“No, but most of the guards left as soon as they dropped him off. Probably to return to looking for that.” Papyrus gestured to the soul still in Blueberry’s hands. “And it looked like at least some of the cells might have windows to the outside. So, we might be able to talk to him sometime tonight and come up with some sorta plan or something.”

“All right, okay, that works.” Blueberry remined himself that everything would be fine, they’d save Edge, go home and see the Surface. This was nothing more than a minor hiccup in their plans. “What do we do until then?”

“Wait, and make sure no finds us.”

 

***

Edge had paced until his legs hurt and he almost couldn’t walk anymore. He’d collapsed face first on the bed and fallen into a fitful sleep. He woke up to the sound of someone moving around outside his cell.

With a groan, he sat up and looked over to see the fox monster from earlier. His injured hand was wrapped in a bandage and held close to his chest, clearly he didn’t have enough gold to pay for a healer. His other hand held a tray of food, that he was sliding it underneath the door. The bars were cut off at the bottom for this exact purpose.

“Hey kid,” Edge said as the fox straightened and was about to walk away. He wasn’t sure why he called out but the miserable look on the kid’s face made him feel a little bad.

“I’m not a kid,” the fox said.

“Yeah, whatever ya say kid,” Edge said as he dragged himself off the bed and stood to face the fox, who most certainly was a kid no matter what he had to say about it. “Look uh… sorry about your hand. I was mad and stuff, ya know? I uh, shouldn’t’ve done that to ya, it wasn’t your fault.”

The fox’s eyes widened in shock, as if he’d never been apologized to before. Come to think of it, he probably hadn’t been.

The silence seemed to stretch as the fox clearly had no idea how to respond. “Hurry up and either accept my fucking apology or not, so that we can all move on with our lives,” Edge said after a while.

“Oh uh sorry sir, I uh accept your apology. My name is Nick Wild,” he said holding his uninjured hand through the bars. “And you’re Sans.”

Edge stared at his hand for a half a second for with a shrug shook it. “Uh yeah, I’m Sans.” It felt weird using his real name again. He was so used to being called ‘Edge’ and had started associating ‘Sans’ with what all most everybody else called Blueberry.

“Is it true that you killed the old Commander of the Guard: Papyrus?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“How’d you do it? Is it true that you made some kind of clone of yourself to distract him?”

“You could say I _blasted_ him out of existence.” Edge wasn’t going to say anything about his supposed ‘clone’. The less people talked about Blueberry the better.

“Everyone’s been talking about how you finally killed your brother,” Nick said. “Half the people are saying you cheated somehow and the other half are saying you could’ve done it anytime you wanted to but were too lazy to. Either way almost everyone’s in agreement that it’s a good thing he’s dead, he was a giant asshole.”

Snowdin was a small town so gossip, especially gossip about who killed who and whether or not it was a fair fight, was common. And Papyrus dying was kind of a big deal, so Edge shouldn’t be surprised that everyone’s been talking about it. But he was. Always trying to lay low and stay out of the limelight he’d never been the talk of the town before, other than when he’d first moved in. And most of his fame there had quickly been overshadowed by Papyrus’ raise to fame when he joined and soon after became Commander of the Royal Guard.

“Speaking of gossip, what’s going on with the whole human soul thing?” Edge asked.

“Well evidently this morning when King Asgore checked the human souls like he supposedly does every morning, one was missing. So, he called up the Royal Guard and told them to search the entire Underground until they found the thief. Half the Guard started searching in Snowdin and the other half started in the Capital. So far, we haven’t found anything, but they can’t hide from us forever.”

That was good news at least. “How did they even steal the soul to begin with? Like shouldn’t there have been guards or something at the door.” Edge needed to appear curious about this, he couldn’t have anyone suspecting him of knowing something.

“There were guards, the King executed them personally as an example. As for how whoever stole it, stole it, I have no idea. From what I heard the door can only be opened by King Asgore and maybe Queen Toriel, even though that’s not confirmed yet. No one knows how someone else could’ve gotten in. There are some people saying it might’ve been a ghost even though ghosts can’t interact with solid objects like that. And there are other people saying it might’ve been the Queen somehow even though no one’s seen her for years. It’s all very exciting though, expect for the fact that I have to carry that fucking magic blocker around.”

It was good to know that at least they hadn’t found Blueberry and Papyrus (yet). Now that Papyrus knew about the magic blockers he would hopefully be prepared for them and be able to protect Blueberry and the soul. Edge should’ve thought of the possibility of someone hunting for the stolen soul and using magic blockers, but he hadn’t considered that they’d start the search in Snowdin.

“Say uh, if you can get me outta here or turn off the magic blocker in my cell, I can make it worth your while,” Edge said. If Nick got caught taking bribes he’d be in big trouble, but hopefully he was naïve enough to not care about the risks. He was young and young people can sometimes be convinced to do less than smart things.

“Nope sorry, I may be weak but I’m not dumb,” Nick said. “Even if I didn’t get caught what are the chances of you following through on your promise?”

“I’ll keep my promise. I got a stash of gold hidden away somewhere that I’ll give ya if ya let me out. Or uh, if there a particular guy ya hate and ya wanna see him dead or hurt…” Edge couldn’t keep the edge of desperation out of his voice. He _needed_ to get out of here. And he would follow through on his promise, what was it to him if he was going to leave and go see the Surface soon anyway? Of course, he could offer to take Nick with him but telling him about anything even remotely related to that would be far too risky.

“Nope sorry, I have to do my job,” Nick said. “Undyne will be questioning you as soon as she finds and takes care of whoever stole the human soul. And there’s not enough gold in the entire Underground to convince me to cross her or do anything that might make her mad.”

Edge wasn’t surprised. Nick was bottom of the totem pole and was obviously a coward. So, this wasn’t a surprise, but it was a disappointment.

“Anyway, I should probably go now before someone starts missing me. So, see you later I guess,” Nick said before heading off back in the direction he came.

“Fucking hell,” Edge cursed under his breath, kicking the cell door in frustration. He’d had a brief hope there that he might’ve been able to convince Nick to free him.

He looked down at the tray of food. It was a bowl of plain oatmeal and a piece of underdone toast. But hey at least it was food.

As he settled down to eat he again reminded himself that he had a little bit of time to find a way out of this. Papyrus and Blueberry would no doubt try to find a way to get him out, hopefully they wouldn’t try anything that might get them in trouble. Or maybe he’d find his own way out, he doubted it though. He would probably need to their help. All he could really do was hope Undyne didn’t find them.


	50. Planing Jailbreak

“First, we should probably get dark clothing so we don’t stand out as much,” Blueberry said. He’d see how people dressed in the universe, all dark colours. His bright blue clothing and Papyrus’ bright orange hoodie would stand out like sore thumbs if anyone saw them. And considering the fact that everyone would probably be on high alert because of the missing human soul, the last thing they wanted was to stand out.

“Yeah, probably,” Papyrus said.

They had moved from the house to the area in Snowdin forest near Edge’s old sentry station, also near where Edge had killed his brother. If anyone came by with a magic blocker they could run out of its range and teleport somewhere else. So far, they hadn’t seen anyone, it was way out of the way after all and it ended in a dead end. If the guard were going to look here for the thief, they would’ve done so already.

“Paps see if you can’t teleport us into the clothing store. We should be able to… borrow something that’ll disguise us.” Blueberry didn’t like the thought of stealing but they were already kind of doing that anyway. And they _needed_ to disguise themselves without getting seen, the only way to do that was stealing.

“I’ll go, you can…” Papyrus began.

“No, I’m going with you,” Blueberry cut him off. He needed to be doing something, he wasn’t going to just sit here and let Papyrus do everything. “If we get spotted you just teleport us back here. It won’t make a difference if I go with you.”

“Yeah but…”

“I know it’s dangerous. We all knew that when we decided to come here. But leaving me alone with the soul is probably more dangerous. What if somebody comes by while I’m waiting for you to return? I can’t teleport out like you can. So, it’s safer and smarter if you bring me with you.”

“I guess you’re right,” Papyrus admitted with a sigh. “Let’s go then.” He placed a hand on Blueberry’s shoulder and teleported them.

They were in a place that vaguely resembled the clothing store in Waterfall. He’d teleported them to the back of the store where luckily there was no one about. It was kind of dark, a few of the ceiling lights had gone out or broken, and some of them were flickering. The clothing hanging up on display lacked any bright colours. Overall it was about what Blueberry had expected from this world.

“Let’s do this fast, before someone comes,” Papyrus said.

It only took about five minutes or so before they were done. Papyrus immediately teleported back to the area by Edge’s old sentry station.

“See that went just fine,” Blueberry said. “Now let’s change and then work on a way to save Edge.” They separated so that they’d have some privacy while they changed clothes, though they did stay close by each other.

Blueberry swapped clothes as fast he could, it was too cold out here to dawdle for long on that. He taken the most practical clothing he could find, a black hoodie with big hood that would obscure his face when he had it up. As well as a black pair of pants, and a sturdy pair of boots that would hold up even if he had to do a lot running. And to top it all off he’d found a black and red bandana that he tied around the lower part of his face to obscure it even further.

“How do I look?” he asked Papyrus after putting his normal clothing in the backpack they’d brought with them.

“A lot like Edge,” Papyrus said. He’d taken slightly less practical clothing, a long cloak with a hood. It was long enough that he hadn’t had to replace his normal tennis shoes and he was most likely wearing it over his normal clothes as well, which was probably why he’d chosen it. But he too had taken a bandanna, one that was entirely black, to tie around his face as a disguise.

“I always look like Edge, we are technically the same person after all,” Blueberry said. “You still have the soul?”

“Yeah,” Papyrus replied. Leaving it behind was probably a bad idea, if somebody stumbled on it by accident than this whole trip would be wasted. “So now that we have our edgy disguises what are we are we gonna do?”

“We’re going to go to where they have Edge imprisoned, scout it out a little and then decide what to do from there.” Blueberry needed more information before he could come up with a good plan. But he knew he would figure something out once he got there. He was going to be a Royal Guardsman one day, this kind of thing should come naturally to him.

But he would need weapon if he couldn’t use his magic. He summoned an attack and threw it at a thick tree branch higher up. It fell into the snow and he went over to pick it up. He summoned another attack, in his hand this time, and began cutting off the excess twigs.

“What’s that for?” Papyrus asked.

“A weapon since they have those magic blocker things. Hopefully I won’t need it but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Once all the twigs were gone he used his summoned bone attack to round out the edges of the branch. It was basically a staff now, only a few feet long, but in a pinch, he could use it to defend himself. He didn’t have much experience fighting without the use of his magic, the magic blockers didn’t exist back home. But he could do it. How hard could it be to swing his stick around and knock somebody out anyway?

“That’s probably a good idea.” Papyrus sighed before knocking another tree branch off a tree and doing the same thing Blueberry had done.

“Good, now let’s go scout out the prison,” Blueberry said once they were both armed.

“In the middle of the day like this?” Papyrus asked.

“Yeah, we need to get Edge out of there as soon as possible. A human soul is missing and Edge reappearing when he did is pretty suspicious. They may have dismissed the possibility of him having anything to do with it for now, but when they don’t find any other suspects they might start suspecting him again.” Blueberry knew that if he were in the Guards’ position he would suspect Edge when he didn’t find any other suspects. And if they started suspecting Edge things would go very south very quickly.

“Yeah okay, but we’re not going to confront any of the Guard,” Papyrus said.

“Of course, not, we’ll probably have to wait until the middle of the night tonight to free him anyway. Less people should be around then and maybe the guard will be less alert as well. But I do want scout the place out and come up with a plan before then.”

“At least you seem to know what you’re doing. If it would up to me I have no clue what to do.” Papyrus sighed.

Blueberry didn’t really know what he was doing. He’d never done anything like this before. He’d seen it in movies and other works of fiction but he doubted it would be anything like that. But he couldn’t let that daunt him. It was his duty to save Edge and he was going to do that. Also, he needed to be doing something or his worry for Edge would consume him. He just needed to stay rationale and clam and he could do this, Edge was depending on him.

“Let’s go,” Blueberry said, pulling his hood up to hide his face. “We’ll walk so we don’t chance startling somebody with a teleport.”

Papyrus pulled his own hood up as they started walking towards Snowdin.

They walked alongside the path, not wanting to bump into anyone on it, much like how Blueberry had done the first time he’d been here. Reaching the tree line and the edge of town was almost as nerve wracking as it had been that time too. But he didn’t let his nerves show.

“You know where the prison is?” he asked as he realized he didn’t know, there wasn’t a prison in their Snowdin. There was one in Waterfall and another in the Capital but that was it, there wasn’t enough crime to justify anything more.

“Yeah, follow me,” Papyrus said as he took the lead.

There were a lot of people on the streets. They were huddled in groups whispering about something, probably talking about the missing soul. No one seemed to pay Blueberry or Papyrus any mind, they were too caught up in either, going to wherever they were going or their gossip.

It wasn’t long before they reached a building that Blueberry didn’t recognize. It was an average size one story building and had a broken-down sign out front, advertising that it was a prison. There were several small windows on the sides, all of them had bars. They were high enough that Blueberry would probably have to sit on Papyrus’ shoulders to see through them.

“That’s where they brought Edge,” Papyrus said in a whisper as they paused in an alleyway across the street from the prison. “They dropped him off and then they left. I checked and saw that there are at least two guards in the front office area.”

“It’s possible they might have a magic blocker in there too. And since we can’t know for sure we should probably act under the assumption that there is one,” Blueberry said as he continued to study the building across the street from them. “We know for sure they have one in the jail cells, otherwise Edge would’ve teleported out to meet us by now.”

“If it weren’t for everyone hanging around out here we could probably sneak in there and knock the guards out with our branch things,” Papyrus said waving his stick a little.

“Yeah, they would probably stop us. But they shouldn’t be here tonight,” Blueberry said as the perfect plan formed in his mind. “Tonight, we’ll sneak in there, knock the guards out, steal the keys or turn off the magic blockers or something. And then we’ll free Edge and sometime tomorrow we’ll go home. Everything’s going to be just fine.”


	51. Escape

Edge next woke feeling achy and stiff. After Nick had left, he’d once more paced until he passed out again. It had been a long time since he’d done something like that, not since he’d met Blueberry who’d soothed him every time he started freaking out. He missed Blueberry. They hadn’t even been separated for a full day yet and Edge was already losing his mind about it.

Judging by the light coming through the window it was only an hour or two before night would start falling. He would’ve slept longer if he hadn’t had a vivid nightmare about Blueberry dying right in front of him. He’d been stuck in his jail cell forced to watch as his brother murdered Blueberry. Even though he knew it was just a dream he was still shaky, his face wet with tears that he wiped away as soon as he became aware of them.

Forcing himself not to think about the dream he sat up. The part of the mattress where one of his hands had been resting now had distinct claw marks on it, he’d clawed it in his sleep. He wanted to claw the rest of the bed but he couldn’t, if he destroyed it where would he sleep tonight?

He settled for running his claws down the wall next to him instead. Sadly, because it was concrete they couldn’t sink into it, leaving little more than tiny scratch marks. He continued doing it anyway. He knew from experience that if he went at it long enough he would eventually grind his claws done and it would be a day or two before they returned to their usual sharpness. It hurt like hell when he did that, but the pain always distracted him from his stress. And right now he could use a little distraction from all the stress he was under.

But it wasn’t even five minutes before he was interrupted by the sound of the door at the end of the hall opening. Followed by the sound of armored footsteps coming towards him. His nerves taut from his imprisonment and his earlier nightmare, he sprang up to meet whoever it was.

“Good to see you’re attentive for once,” Undyne said as she strode into view in front of his cell.

“What the fuck do you want?” Edge growled. If they had found the human soul and knew he had something to do with its theft there’d be more than just her here, right? And she wouldn’t still look so mad and frustrated.

“King Asgore wants me to bring you in for questioning.”

Edge froze. “W-what for?” he asked, trying to hide his sudden fear.

“Because of your coincidental timing on your return from ‘the Capital’, he suspects you might know something about the stolen soul. I told him that a lump of mashed potatoes has more motivation than you, but he insisted I bring you in anyway. He’s going to have his personal pet torturer wring the answers out of you. It should be fun to hear you scream.”

“B-but wait, maybe this could wait ‘till tomorrow. It’s gonna be night soon, don’t ya wanna sleep?” Edge was hoping that Blueberry and Papyrus would find a way to free him tonight. Nighttime made the most sense for something like that after all.

“My orders are to bring you in right now. And the sooner I bring you in the sooner I can be done with this bullshit.”

Undyne pulled out a pair of handcuffs as she used the key to unlock his cell. Edge tried to run past her but her bulky armor blocked the way. With a growl, he tried to claw the only part of her not covered by steal plate, her face. But because of her superior height she easily grabbed his wrist, roughly twisting it.

“If you don’t stop struggling I’ll break it,” she threatened.

“Fuck you.” Edge ignored the pain in his wrist as he clawed at her chest, if she wasn’t wearing armor she’d have been eviscerated. As it was all he accomplished was scratching it up a little.

“All right, but remember you asked for it.” Undyne twisted his wrist until he heard something snap coupled with the intense pain that always came with bones breaking. “Wow, that was surprisingly easy. You’re even weaker than I thought.”

Pretending to be overcome with pain he went limp. With a derisive laugh Undyne let go of his hand so that she could retrieve the handcuffs from where they’d fallen on the floor. Edge took this opportunity to bolt through the cell door.

“Get back here you little fuck,” Undyne yelled after him as she gave chase, the heavy sound of her armored feet echoing in the hallway.

Edge didn’t take the time to reply as he ran. Speed was something he’d always had over other monsters, even when they weren’t weighed down by heavy armor.

He burst into the front office area, where the guards set to watch the prison were. Undyne’s shouts to capture him following him through the door. Hoping he was far enough away he tried to teleport, but as he felt the all too familiar jolt he spotted an active magic blocker partially embedded in the ceiling with just part of the cylinder and dish sticking out. That was new.

Being too short to reach it he was forced to keep running past the bewildered guard and through the entrance way. He was beginning to think that maybe he’d make it out when something slammed into him from the side, knocking him over.

He tried to struggle and escape but whoever it was held him down, pressing their weight down onto him. He tried summoning a Blaster but he was still too close to the blocker inside. Hoping he might be able to pull the same trick off twice he went limp.

“That’s a good little boy.” It was Dogaressa who was basically laying on top of him, her mate Dogamy was probably close by. “No escape for you,” she said, pressing down on his injured wrist. It _hurt_ , and if Edge wasn’t facing torture he would’ve given up for real.

“Go fuck yourself.” Edge swung his good hand up to claw her face. Her eye burst like an overripe grape as his claws punctured it, dragging it out of its socket in a spray of blood. She yelped as she pulled back, blood matting the fur around where her eye used to be, what remained of it dangling limply.

Edge took this opportunity to raise to his feet once more and make a break for it. But as soon as he’d regained his feet he was confronted with Dogamy standing right in front of him, blocking any means of running past him with his oversized halberd.

“You’ll pay for that you piece of shit,” he growled, swiping his halberd at Edge in a wide arch. Edge was forced to jump back if he didn’t want to be sliced in half, right into Undyne as she burst through the door.

“Got you, you little fuck,” she growled, grabbing his arm tight in her gauntleted hand. She was out of breath from her sprint in who even knew how heavy armor.

Edge tried to jump forward again to escape her grasp, but Dogamy was there and Dogaressa was back on her feet despite the blood gushing from where her eye used to be. The two of them crowded him up against the solid wall that was Undyne, making escape impossible.

He instinctively tried to summon a ring of Blasters but of course nothing happened. Curse those wretched things, he hated them even more now than he did before.

“Did you really think you could escape?” Undyne said as she grabbed his injured wrist, twisting it around some more, causing him yet more pain. “Help me tie him up,” she ordered the dogs.

Despite his continued struggles it wasn’t long before they had him securely tied up with a rope one of the prison guards had brought out. They bound his feet and hands together, tight enough to make struggling against them futile and painful. They also put a muzzle on him, made of leather and metal, that held his mouth closed preventing him from speaking. They’d put it on as tight as they could make it go, and it was already starting to hurt. They’d even dragged him back inside the prison, closer to the magic blocker.

“You two keep an eye on him while I go get a grunt to carry a magic blocker,” Undyne said.

“Are we allowed to beat him up?” Dogaressa asked.

“Yes, but make sure you don’t kill him.”

“Ha, perfect,” Dogamy said as the sounds of Undyne’s footsteps receded, followed by the sound of the door to the outside opening and then closing. He kicked Edge in the ribs, not hard enough to break them, but hard enough to hurt nonetheless. “You’re gonna pay for what you did to my mate, and all those times you fired your fucking laser things at us.”

Edge lay there on the ground, refusing to look at either of them. He tried to hold as still as possible, every inch of his body hurt. Even the slightest movement caused the rope around his wrists to tighten on his damaged wrist, sending lances of pain up his arm.

There had to be a way out of this. Blueberry and Papyrus would probably be trying to come up with a way to get him out. But they probably wouldn’t try anything until after nightfall. Edge wasn’t even sure where they’d be hiding out. Surely, they would’ve left the house by now and gone somewhere where they couldn’t be cornered by the magic blockers. Maybe the area in front of the Ruins’ door, by his old sentry station.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you.” Dogamy interrupted his thoughts with another kick, this one did break at least one rib. But Edge still refused to look. It was the last act of defiance left to him, he wasn’t about to give it up.

“Cheeky little asshole, aren’t ya?” Dogaressa said, grabbing his face and tilting it upward. “We’ll see how _you_ like having you eye clawed out.” Holding his skull steady with one hand she used her other to dig her claws into one of his eye sockets, pressing them all the way to the back of his skull.

His yelp of pain was muffled by the muzzle as he tried to wiggle his head out of her grasp. But every movement only made it hurt more. He once more instinctively tried to summon a Blaster to shoo her off but still nothing happened.

“Ha, not so strong now are ya?” Dogamy taunted. In a real fight without the magic blockers Edge would’ve been able to defeat both of them, even if they worked together. They of course knew that too, otherwise they probably would’ve tried to kill him a long time ago.

Edge went limp as he gave up struggling. It only made the pain worse. He’d find a way out of this situation sometime later. Right now, all he could do was try to endure the pain, something he sadly wasn’t unfamiliar with.


	52. Boat

“You’re fucking weak,” Dogamy growled in his face as he pressed down on Edge’s forearm, threatening to break it. The worse part was it was the arm with the already broken wrist and the movement caused him to whine with pain.

It had been at least five minutes since Undyne had left them to grab a lackey to carry a magic blocker. The dogs were taking full advantage of her permission to beat him up and if it weren’t for the muzzle he’d probably beg for mercy. Dogaressa still had one of her paws in his eye socket, scratching up the back of his skull with her claws. Both them laughed at every pained whimper he’d made through the increasingly painful muzzle.

Part of him had forgotten what it was like to endure beatings like this, making it worse somehow. Before this it had only been members of his family who’d hurt him like this, primarily Boss. He _hated_ this more than any other time before. He wanted to go home and cuddle up in Blueberry’s arms. But thinking about all that only made it harder to endure.

“Break his arm,” Dogaressa said with laugh. She’d bandaged her face where Edge had clawed her eye out. The bandages were already soaked with her blood but she didn’t seem to care much.

“Of course, my dear,” Dogamy said as he starting increasing pressure on Edge’s already painfilled arm. Lacking physical strength and durability it wasn’t long before the top part of his forearm snapped.

The pain was so great that Edge blacked out. He came to a short time later to snow being shoved into his eye socket, the one Dogaressa had been messing with earlier. At least it soothed the pain in there a little bit, even if it was unpleasant in every other way.

“Let’s get going,” Undyne’s command came, cutting off the dogs’ laughs at Edge’s pained whimpers.

“Ah, it was just getting good,” Dogamy complained.

“Doesn’t matter, let’s go,” Undyne said. Standing next to her was Nick who was holding another magic blocker. And he didn’t look the least bit pleased about it.

With a disappointed sigh Dogamy grabbed the rope tying Edge’s hands together, lifting Edge up into the air. Ignoring the pain that that caused his broken wrist Edge kicked his bound feet into Dogamy’s chest plate. Unbalanced, Dogamy stumbled back a little and tripped over a bucket. Landing on his tail he made a sound somewhere between a bark and a whine.

Edge fell to the floor too, in a heap. But despite that he laughed through the muzzle at the surprised and pained look on Dogamy’s face. He hadn’t done himself any favors by causing one of his captors to stumble but it was still funny.

“You’ll pay for that,” Dogamy growled lunging at Edge. He landed on top of him, using one hand to press Edge’s head into the ground. Using the other hand, he grabbed Edge’s injured arm and twisting it some more. “I’ll break every bone in your pathetic little body.”

Edge closed eyes, trying his best to ignore the pain and the heavily armored dog practically laying on top of him. He could feel Dogamy’s hot breath on his face, it smelled like he’d been eating something out of the dump. It wasn’t hard to imagine Dogamy pressing down on his skull hard enough to crush it.

“If you kill him before he has a chance to be questioned you’ll pay with your life,” Undyne warned.

“Looks like today is your lucky day Sans, or maybe not. What the torturer’s gonna do to ya will probably make you wish I’d killed you after all.”

“Stop chatting and let’s go,” Undyne commanded, it was clear she was starting to get more than a little impatient. “And carry him so he can’t try to run away again.”

With a huff Dogamy finally lifted himself off Edge. He grabbed Edge by his bound wrists again, lifting him up once more. Only this time he did it faster, and quickly had Edge’s slung over his shoulder. “You even try to kick me again and I’ll break your fucking legs off.” His tone promised that he wasn’t making an empty threat.

Edge allowed himself to go limp as the group started heading for the door. There was nothing he could do that wouldn’t bring more pain. He could only hope Blueberry and Papyrus would come to his rescue, hopefully before he was ‘questioned’. Assuming they even knew where he was or what kind of situation he was in currently.

“Watching you scream is going to be so much fun.” Dogaressa gave his face a slight flick as she walked up behind Dogamy. “It’s about time you got knocked down a peg or two.”

Edge wouldn’t have responded even if he wasn’t muzzled. Instead he did his best not to move his injured arm too much. It was hard with the way Dogamy’s every step jostled him so much.

He considered trying to struggle and escape but didn’t. He wouldn’t get more than a few feet and he’d be punished for it. There was no way he would be able to get out of this by himself anyway. He had to trust Blueberry and Papyrus would come up with something and that they knew what was up. Surely, they’d try to keep an eye on him, right?

Hanging over Dogamy’s shoulder, Edge had a good view of what was going on behind them. There was small crowd of people following them. They were probably hoping for a show if Edge tried to escape and probably news about what was going on too. The former was most likely what they were hoping for the most. They were going to be disappointed though, Edge had given up trying to get himself out of this.

The guards seemed to trudge on forever. But at long last they did finally come to a halt.

“Put him in the middle so he can’t try to escape,” Undyne said as they reached their destination, the river where a boat was already waiting for them.

Dogamy did as he was ordered, dumping Edge onto the middle bench. “You even try to escape we’ll break your other arm,” he promised.

Undyne sat at the head of the boat opposite from where the Riverperson stood ready to start rowing. Nick took the seat next to her. The dogs hesitated, clearly nervous about getting on the boat, probably because of their heavy armor.

“Get on the boat,” Undyne growled at them. She was wearing her heavy armor too but being a fish she didn’t have to worry about drowning if she fell in. Even though she’d still be dragged to the bottom which she’d no doubt find inconvenient.

Nervously the dogs took their seats. They sat so that Edge was squished in between them. Meaning he wouldn’t be able to throw himself off the edge of the boat. But that probably wouldn’t have accomplished anything other than getting himself wet (and punished) anyway.

“Don’t you dare try anything,” Dogamy warned with a prod to his broken arm as the river-person started rowing downstream towards the Capital. Towards where Edge would be tortured by the king’s personal pet torturer. But there was nothing he could do about that.

At least they weren’t going all that fast. The magic blocker made it so that the boat had to be rowed manually instead of relying on the boat’s magic to have it run across the water at high speeds. So, at least he had a few more hours before he was put into the care of a professional torturer, not that that was much comfort.

He should be rocking the boat, trying to get Nick to drop the magic blocker or something. But he was so tired and already in so much pain, that would only cause more. Also being small and lightweight there was no way he’d be able to rock the boat enough for anything like that to happen.

The ride might’ve been kind of nice if he wasn’t in pain and on his way to be tortured. The gentle rocking of the boat as it made its way downstream would’ve been enough to lull him to sleep if he wasn’t so stressed out about his current situation. He wished he could at least stand up and pace, but his feet were tied together.

“This is fucking boring,” Dogaressa complained after what couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes. “Let’s have some more fun with Sans.”

“No,” Undyne said sternly. “You’ll no doubt end up rocking the boat and I’m not in the mood for that. And you might accidentally make Nick drop the blocker, and I’m even less in the mood for that.”

Edge didn’t think he would ever feel anything even remotely resembling gratitude towards Undyne. But he did. He didn’t want to be hurt anymore, and she was giving him that. Even if her reasons had nothing to do with what he wanted.

“Ah, but I just wanna hear him whine some more. We could even take off the muzzle and have him beg for mercy. Or we could get him to tell us how he managed to defeat Papyrus. And I still wanna know where his clone went.”

“I said ‘no’. The king’s torturer will figure all that shit out later, and without there being a chance of him dying by accident or escaping.”

“That’s no fun,” Dogamy complained before the party once more fell into silence. The only sounds the river and the Riverperson’s oar as it dipped repeatedly into the water, bringing them ever closer to their ultimate destination.


	53. Spying

“I heard Sans is back in town again.”

“Yeah, you think he has something to with the stolen human soul?”

“That’s what some people are saying.”

Blueberry was eavesdropping on a pair of snowdrakes chatting. This was the third or fourth conversion like this that he’d listened in on. Everyone was talking about the missing soul and several were linking its theft to Edge’s return. Which was worrying to say the least, people connecting Edge and the missing soul spelled trouble.

The first-time Blueberry had heard somebody mutter the name ‘Sans’, he’d been confused and had almost panicked, thinking that he’d been found out. But then he’d realized that they had to be talking about Edge. It was weird, even though he knew Edge’s real name was ‘Sans’ too, he never thought about. Did it ever bother Edge that no one ever referred to him by his real name anymore? Blueberry would have to ask him about it when they got home.

Sighing, Blueberry moved on before anyone noticed him listening in. He went back over to walk besides Papyrus once more. For the past few hours they’d been hanging out around the prison. They didn’t stay in one spot for too long lest they end up looking conspicuous. Instead they wondered up the down the street, mostly staying on the opposite side of the street from the prison.

At first, Blueberry had been terrified that somebody would notice them and call them out for being outsiders. But in their dark clothing they blended right in with everybody else. Even their makeshift weapons didn’t stand out, plenty of other people were openly carrying various kinds of weaponry too. Any odd behaviours that might mark them as outsiders also went unnoticed. Everyone was too focused on gossiping to pay much heed to anyone else.

Being the smaller and thus less noticeable of the two, Blueberry had taken it upon himself to eavesdrop on the occasional conversion. He wanted to get a feel for what was going on and what people were talking about. There was an abnormal number of people on the streets and all of them seemed to be discussing the human soul. About how somebody might have stolen it or where they might be hiding now. And of course, there were people who noted that Edge’s return corresponded with its theft.

“Just a few more hours,” Papyrus whispered to him as they passed by the jail on the other side of the street.

“Yeah, we got this,” Blueberry whispered back.

In a few more hours, dark would start to fall and everyone would leave and they’d be able to break Edge out. As time had dragged on, the number of people on the street had dwindled and the amount of people seemed to be getting less all the time. By true dark, almost everyone should be gone, making it the perfect time to free Edge. They’d just have to wait a few more hours.

Once they were a fair distance away from the prison, but still able to see it if anything happened, they paused in an alleyway. They would turn back around and walk the other way after about five minutes or so. They had to do their best to act natural in the meantime.

Blueberry was about to drift closer to another group of monsters to eavesdrop on another conversation. He froze though when he saw Undyne, recognizable despite her armor, walking purposefully across the street from them. She was going in the direction that the prison lay. Even from across the street it was obvious she kind of annoyed about something. Following her were Dogamy and Dogaressa, they too wore heavy armor, heavier than what they wore in Blueberry’s world.

Undyne was Commander of the Guard here and she’d been the one to arrest Edge. Her going in the direction of the prison might have something to do with that. With that in mind, Blueberry tugged on Papyrus sleeve and pointed out Undyne. Then started heading in the same direction she was, hoping she her direction was just a coincidence and had nothing to do with Edge.

As Undyne marched down the sidewalk everyone went out of their way to not to be in her path. A few of them started following her though, joining a small entourage that had already been doing so. They were probably following her to see if anything happened. She was in charge of looking of the missing soul after all and that was talk of the town right now.

Contrary to Blueberry’s hopes Undyne stopped at the prison. Going in she left the dogs outside. They set up guard on either side of the door. The bystanders who had been following her stuck around outside too.

Blueberry and Papyrus paused in the alleyway across the street from the prison. From here, because of Blueberry’s lack of height he couldn’t see much of the prison due to the people hanging around, waiting for something to happen. But there wasn’t much he could do about that. He’d just have to rely on Papyrus to tell him what was happening.

The next few minutes passed in tense silence before judging by everyone’s reactions something happened. What that something was Blueberry couldn’t see, there were even more people watching what was going on now than before.

“It’s Edge,” Papyrus said in a whisper, causing Blueberry’s metaphorical heart to skip a beat. “Looks like he tried to escape but…”

“If we tried to help would we be able to get him far enough away to teleport?” Blueberry asked, hoping with all his soul that was the case.

“Uh… against at least three, possibly more, heavily armed and armored guards, probably not. And they’ve already recaptured him, there’s no way their gonna let go of him anytime soon. We’d just be putting ourselves in danger too.”

“Oh,” Blueberry said, disappointed. But he knew Papyrus was right, there wasn’t much they could do against that many guards when they wouldn’t be able to fight with magic. Especially with so many people watching who might try to fight them too. “They’re not hurting him though, are they?”

“Well, they’re tying him up and he’s struggling but… not really getting anywhere.” So, in other words they _were_ hurting him and there wasn’t anything Blueberry could do to stop them. How dare they do that to Edge? He didn’t deserve any of that, he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Blueberry stomped his foot in anger and frustration. He wanted to cry again but wasn’t going to. It probably wouldn’t go over well if anyone saw him with tears on his face.

“They’re dragging him back inside,” Papyrus said after a short while.

That had to be a good thing, right? It meant they were going to put him back in his jail cell, right? And then tonight Blueberry and Papyrus would free him. So, everything would turn out okay after all.

The crowd in front of the prison stirred and moved aside as Undyne exited the building. She was alone this time, the dogs apparently still in the prison. She walked with a purposeful gait, looking even angrier than she had before.

But why hadn’t the dogs gone with her? What if they were punishing Edge for trying to escape? Surely that couldn’t be it. This world was messed up sure, but they still wouldn’t hurt someone who was tied up and couldn’t fight back, right?

It was long ten minutes or so before Undyne returned. This time there was a fox monster with a bandaged hand following her. He was carrying a black box with a cylinder coming out of the top that ended in a dish shape. That had to be a magic blocker, what else could it possibly be? But why would they need it? Unless they going to move Edge somewhere else for some reason.

The fox and Undyne entered the prison. They were in there for a few minutes before exiting once more. They weren’t alone, the dogs had joined them. And much to Blueberry’s horror Edge was with them too. He hung limp over Dogamy’s shoulder. His hands were tied together and his feet undoubtedly were too, otherwise he probably wouldn’t be being carried. It also looked like he was wearing some kind of mask or muzzle thing that covered the lower half of his face. Things did not look like they had gone well for him.

Curious onlookers fell in behind the guards as they started walking down the street, keeping their distance. Blueberry and Papyrus joined them.

Wherever they were taking Edge it couldn’t be a good thing. There was a chance they might move him to a place where Blueberry and Papyrus might not be able to get him out. And there was a chance they’d hurt him some more wherever they were taking him.

Soon it became apparent that Edge’s captors were taking him to towards the river. Meaning they were probably going to transport him someplace by ferry. Which meant they were taking him somewhere a fair distance away, otherwise they’d walk. But where and why?

Once they reached the river there was already a boat waiting for them. They dropped Edge on first before Undyne and the fox took their seats. The dogs hesitated for a few seconds but sat down as well. And the Riverperson tending the boat started rowing them away.

Unable to follow, the curious crowd dispersed. Blueberry heard a few murmurs of disappointment that they hadn’t gotten another show. They’d wanted to see Edge get hurt! How could anyone take pleasure in something like that? It was disgusting.

But Blueberry didn’t have much time to be angry about that as he watched the boat with Edge and his captors on it get further and further away. “What are we going to do?” he asked.  Their only options were to try to save Edge while he was being transported or try to save him from wherever they were taking him.

“What do think the chances are that the magic blocker would break if we shoved it into the water?” Papyrus asked.

“I don’t know,” Blueberry said. “But if it did, we wouldn’t have to fight them much since we could just break it and teleport away with Edge.” That would of course draw attention to themselves but getting Edge out was more important. They’d then just have to be extra vigilant about anyone trying to corner them with magic blockers again.

“So, are we gonna chance that?” Papyrus asked. “Or we gonna try to break him out of whatever prison they put him next?”

Blueberry thought for a minute. Both were risky. What if wherever they were taking was under heavy guard and it would be impossible to get him out? But going up against four guard members, (three if the fox didn’t count), and maybe the Riverperson too, without the use of their magic would be difficult. Especially if the magic blocker still functioned when shoved in the river. Difficult but not impossible.

“Let’s chance it,” Blueberry said upon reaching his decision. “We’ll set up an ambush further upstream and take them by surprise. If we’re lucky we won’t even have to fight them much.”


	54. Ambush

With the boat not being able to run on magic it would probably take it about an hour or so before it reached the entrance to Waterfall. Which was where Blueberry and Papyrus had decided to set up their ambush. Their dark clothing would blend in better with the dark walls here over Snowdin’s snow.

“Okay, so here’s the plan,” Blueberry said. “We jump on their boat and I’ll push the magic blocking thing into the water and hope that breaks it. You grab Edge and once the magic blocker’s gone you teleport us out.” Chances of it going that smoothly were slim, but that was the basic idea. Whatever else happened they’d have to deal with it when it came.

“And if that doesn’t break the magic blocker, we can run away after rescuing Edge,” Papyrus said. “Once we’re outta range we’ll teleport.”

“Yeah, that should work,” Blueberry said. They just had to get out with Edge, they didn’t have to fight. Even though fighting at least a little was inevitable. They were going up against trained guards in a violent world, even if they were taken by complete surprise they’d still react quickly. And it would be even worse if they couldn’t break the blocker. But it was the only thing they could do.

“Sounds like a plan.” Papyrus gave him a thumbs up as if they actually knew what they was doing here.

Blueberry pushed his doubts aside. They could do this, he knew what he was doing, sort of. He was going to be a strong Royal Guardsman one day after all. He could rescue Edge. Even if something did go wrong they’d find a way to prevail despite that.

They started looking for a good ambush spot. It had to be close enough to the river that they could jump out onto the boat while still being able to remain hidden until the last possible second. Night starting to fall would help with that. If they were spotted too soon they’d be in trouble, and the gig would be up. So, it was important that they find a good spot.

Eventually they found one. It was behind a cluster of echo flowers on a small hill overlooking the river. If they lay down flat, they’d be hard to spot by anyone on the river while still being able to peek through the flowers to see anyone in a boat passing by. It was a short distance away from the Waterfall dock. Due to night starting to fall and the normal ferries not running, there wasn’t anybody nearby. So, there wasn’t any chance of some bystander tipping Edge’s captors off about them.

They settled down to wait, sitting by their hill as they kept watch. As soon as they spotted the boat they’d lay down and wait until it got close enough to jump onto it. Then if all went according plan, Blueberry would break the magic blocker, Papyrus would grab Edge, and then they’d be home free. There were a million things that could go wrong but Blueberry wasn’t going to allow himself to dwell on any of them. He had to focus on staying calm and positive. This was going to work, it had to.

The minutes seem to drag into hours of nervous silence as they waited. Normally Blueberry would’ve had a thousand things to chat about. But right now, he was too focused on watching for any sign of the boat carrying Edge to what would probably be his doom.

Just as Blueberry was beginning to worry that the guards might’ve been ferrying Edge to somewhere in Snowdin after all, a boat came into view as it made its way around the bend. It was still a fair distance away but it had to the boat with Edge on it.

“There they are, get ready,” Blueberry said, clutching his makeshift stick weapon. He and Papyrus flattened themselves on the hillside. It would still be a little while before the boat passed by them.

After a few minutes Blueberry risked peeking up a little. He could just about make out everybody on the boat. Undyne was sitting up front with the fox monster holding the magic blocker next to her. At the rear of the boat stood the Riverperson, rowing the boat manually since the boat’s magic couldn’t activate due to the magic blocker on board. In the center were the dogs, Dogamy and Dogaressa. Dogaressa had a bandage wrapped around her head, over one of her eyes. It was stained with blood, meaning she’d probably been hurt pretty badly. Between them was Edge.

Even at this distance Blueberry could see that he looked dejected, hanging his head and staring the floor of the boat. If it wasn’t for the fact that his eyes were open Blueberry might’ve thought that he was sleeping, he moved so little. Seeing him like that filled Blueberry with a rage he hadn’t felt since he’d seen Edge’s bro hurting him. He was going to make the dogs and Undyne pay for hurting Edge.

“Hang on Edge, we’ll save you,” he promised in a whisper before settling back down to wait.

The wait was torturous. It felt like it took longer than it had for the boat to come into view. But at long last the boat drifted close.

Blueberry held up three fingers for Papyrus to see. He counted down to two as the boat started drifting in front of their hiding spot. As the boat drifted right in front of them, Blueberry counted down to one and vaulted over the small hill and onto the boat. He landed near the front of the boat, between where Undyne and the fox sat and where Edge and the dogs were. At almost the exact same time Papyrus vaulted over as well, more towards the back of the boat and on the other side of the dogs and Edge.

The combined force of them jumping onto it caused the boat to rock wildly, water splashing over the sides to pool in the bottom. If they’d been heavier they might’ve tipped it.

Despite being unsteady on his feet due to the boat rocking beneath him, Blueberry didn’t waste a second before lashing out with his makeshift stick weapon. He swung it at the magic blocker on the fox’s lap. It hit right where the cylinder connected to the box. He’d been trying to shove it into the water but got something better instead. The force of his blow caused the cylinder to separate from the box. He’d broken it! Just for good measure he shoved the stick into the hole where the cylinder used to be. As he did so the fox yelped in fear and surprise, scrambling back off the side of the boat.

Blueberry didn’t have more than half a second to celebrate before Undyne’s nonmagical spear was coming his way. He managed to summon an attack to block it just before it could pierce his ribcage. The spear lodged into the summoned bone. Giving it up with a growl, she followed up with a barrage of magical spears as she stood, the boat rocking some more due to her movements.

Blueberry summoned more defensive attacks to block them. After all, a good defense was the best offense, as his Alphys had always taught him. He did his best to retaliate with a few of his own thrown attacks. But most of his energy had to go towards blocking Undyne’s barrage. She didn’t bother to try and block his attacks though, her armor did that for her.

Blueberry heard the distinct sound of several Blasters firing behind him followed almost immediately by the boat lurching violently beneath them, tipping heavily to one side. Blueberry stumbled, his defenses dispelling. He was in luck though as Undyne stumbled too, her summoned spears dissipating as she fought to keep from falling into the water.

“You fucking idiot, let go,” she shouted.

Risking a quick look back, Blueberry saw Dogamy in the water, clinging onto the side of the boat. His heavy armor dragging him down and causing the boat to tilt, putting it in serious danger of flipping over. His eyes were wide in panic and he was trying to scramble his way back up. But the weight of his armor was clearly making it difficult. And he would undoubtedly sink to the bottom and drown if he lost his grip.

Edge seemed to be the one responsible for this, he had a host of Blasters summoned, all pointed at Dogamy. Their beams had cut off though, probably due to the distraction caused by the boat tilting. He gripping onto the other side of the boat as it lifted up into the air a little, digging his claws in.

It looked like Dogaressa had challenged Papyrus. She’d placed herself between him and Edge, preventing him from grabbing Edge as had been the plan. The tilt had caused her to stumble too, but she’d managed to stay between Edge and Papyrus. But now she was shooting Dogamy a concerned look. It was clear she wanted to go help him. Blueberry hoped she would, it would give them an opportunity to teleport away with Edge.

Edge’s eyes widened as he turned to look at Blueberry. His Blasters turned to fire at something behind Blueberry. Quickly turning back around, Blueberry saw that they were firing at Undyne. She’d summoned another spear and had been about to hit him with it.

“You fucking piece of shit,” Undyne cursed as she did her best to block the beams by summoning more spears. The Blasters’ beams quickly burned through them, hitting her despite her best efforts. There was no way her armor would be able to stand up to them for long.

Turning back around, Blueberry saw that Papyrus had summoned his Blasters as well. They looked similar to Blueberry’s but had longer snouts. They were also pointed Undyne’s way.

Trusting them to keep Undyne off his back, Blueberry summoned a pair of his own Blasters. He fired them at Dogaressa before she could try to take advantage of Papyrus’ distraction. He aimed one to hit her injured eye. She yelped as it hit, ducking and backing up. (That’s what she got for hurting Edge.)

The boat started tilting more as she moved towards the side dipping into the water due to Dogamy’s weight. But it wasn’t enough for it to actually flip all the way, not yet anyway.

Letting his Blasters dissipate, Blueberry moved forward. He grabbed onto Edge with one hand and Papyrus with the other. “Let’s go,” he shouted.

“Got it,” Papyrus said his Blasters disappearing as well.

Dogaressa lifted her halberd high over her head. But before it could come down to strike them, Papyrus teleported.


	55. Reunited

The three of them landed in somewhere in Snowdin forest. It didn’t take long for Edge to figure out that they near the Ruins’ door and by his old sentry station. The surrounding trees bore his claw marks from all the hours he’d spent stressing out here.

“Edge, are you okay?” Blueberry asked, throwing back his hood and ripping off the red and black bandanna that had been covering the lower half of his face. Papyrus doing the same with his hood.

When Blueberry and Papyrus had first jumped out onto the boat, Edge had had no idea who they were. Not only were they wearing dark clothing, something he’d never seen them do before, but they’d also covered their faces. It wasn’t until Blueberry had blocked Undyne’s spear with a summoned bone attack, that Edge had figured it out.

Not waiting for Edge to reply, (not that he could’ve), Blueberry summoned an attack in his hand and cut the rope tying Edge’s wrists together. He then crouched down and cut the rope tying his feet. He turned Edge around and started fiddling with the muzzle’s straps. After several seconds of trying to undo them and failing he just summoned another attack and cut through them as well.

The awful pressure from the muzzle gone at long last, Edge turned back around to face Blueberry. “Are you okay?” he asked again, before Edge could even try to say anything. “Please tell me you’re okay? I was so worried about you.”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Edge assured him. His arm and almost everything else still hurt, but he didn’t care right now. He was with Blueberry again and that’s all that mattered.

“Thank goodness,” Blueberry said before hugging him tight. It hurt a little but Edge didn’t care about that either.

“Thanks for me saving me,” he said.

“Of course,” Blueberry said, pulling back. There were a few tears in his eyes, but he was smiling. “I’m just… so glad that worked. Originally, I had another plan but then they moved you to the ferry and I didn’t know what to do. And I wasn’t sure if the place they were bringing you to would be impossible to get you out of. So, we had to save you while they were moving you. Which meant we had to break the magic blocker thing and I didn’t know how sturdy they were, so I wasn’t sure if I could break it or not. But I did and it worked and we saved you.”

Edge couldn’t even begin to express how grateful he was that they’d saved him. Or how absolutely wonderful it was see Blueberry again. He was glad to see Papyrus too, though that paled in comparison to his joy at being with Blueberry once more.

 “I’m uh, sorry I made you worry about me,” he said.

“Don’t apologize about that,” Blueberry said. “I’m just glad that you’re safe now. Or at least as safe as you can get given where we currently are.”

“Yeah, I…” Edge had no words to describe how much he’d missed Blueberry. They’d been separated for not even a full twenty-four hours, but it had felt like so much longer. “I missed you,” he whispered.

Blueberry smiled at him. “I missed you too, and I’m glad you’re okay,” he said before hugging him again.

Despite his injured arm, Edge did his best to return the hug. He was just glad he was finally able to hug Blueberry again.

“Ya sure you’re okay Edge?” Papyrus asked as their hug ended. “Ya seem to be favoring that arm an awful lot.”

“Oh uh, yeah it’s beat up a bit, but it’s not that bad,” Edge said with a shrug. He couldn’t hide it for long but he didn’t want them to worry about it either. Blueberry had already done enough worrying about him as it was. And it really wasn’t that bad as far as Edge was concerned. It hurt but Boss had given him worse breaks a few times.

“Let me see it,” Blueberry said.

“Uh… sure,” Edge said as he gingerly started removing his coat with Blueberry’s help. He wasn’t going to argue about it with Blueberry. Once the coat was off, Blueberry handed it to Papyrus to hold. He then carefully rolled up Edge’s sleeve.

Blueberry gasped as the sight of his arm, and even Papyrus looked shocked by it. His wrist was broken and bent at an angle it should never be. And the break in his forearm was twisted from the dogs prodding at it so often to keep him from falling asleep while on the boat.

“Holy shit dude, that’s…” Papyrus began.

“It’s not that bad.” Edge had had worse injuries than this a number of times, so the sight of it didn’t shock him. But any kind of serious injury, especially intentional injuries, were probably a rare thing in their world.

“Oh gosh, Edge I’m so sorry,” Blueberry said.

“Hey it’s fine, really,” Edge said, wishing they wouldn’t make such a big deal out of it.

“It most certainly is _not_ fine,” Blueberry said, sounding almost angry about it. “That looks like it hurts a lot. Why would anyone hurt you like that? Without your magic, you couldn’t even defend yourself properly, especially since they outnumbered you. That’s not fair. How could anyone be that awful?”

Edge sighed. “It’s really not that big deal, they could’ve done worse.” They would’ve done a whole lot worse if Blueberry and Papyrus hadn’t rescued him.

“That doesn’t make it okay. Here let me help you.” Blueberry ran over to Edge’s old sentry station where they’d apparently hidden their pack with all the supplies they’d brought. He pulled out his blue scarf and returned to Edge’s side. At first Edge wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it until he instructed him to hold his arm steady.

“You don’t have to…” Edge began.

“No, but I will. The bandanas aren’t long enough, so it only makes sense to use my scarf. Now hold still please, I don’t want to hurt you.” Blueberry carefully positioned the scarf around Edge’s injured arm, tying it around his neck in a makeshift sling. “There, now that’s better don’t you think?” he said, stepping back to examine his work.

“Yeah, I guess, thanks,” Edge said. The sling would prevent his arm from jostling around too much. So, it would hurt less when he moved around.

Blueberry then helped him put his coat back on. He probably looked a bit weird with one arm in a bright blue sling held underneath it. But it didn’t matter.

“I’m really sorry we let you get arrested and that that happened to you because of it,” Blueberry said, his face falling. “I wanted to help but…”

“It’s okay,” Edge said, hating to see Blueberry sad. “You would’ve only gotten yourself into trouble too.” All three of would’ve been imprisoned, tortured and later executed if Blueberry and Papyrus had tried to interfere.

“I know, I just…” Blueberry wrapped his arms around Edge again, gently, being mindful of his broken arm. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

Knowing another apology would be dismissed, Edge did his best to return Blueberry’s hug with his uninjured arm. He wished he could hold Blueberry closer but couldn’t, not until his other arm got healed anyway.

“Hey uh, I hate to interrupt your reunion,” Papyrus cut in causing them to jump apart in surprise. “But uh Edge, what’s your best guess on when you’ll be able to take us back home? No pressure but uh Undyne will be looking for us.”

“Tomorrow?” Now that the excitement of the rescue and seeing Blueberry again was beginning to wear off, his exhaustion was starting to set in again. He felt drained both physically and mentally. His magic levels were low too, lower than they had been this morning. Being near magic blockers all day certainly hadn’t helped with that. Adding to his exhaustion even more. But the longer they were here the higher chance that someone would find them. And now that Blueberry and Papyrus had revealed themselves their punishment would be severe. There was no way anyone would think they didn’t have anything to do with the stolen soul.

“You don’t sound too sure about that,” Papyrus said.

“I’ll do it tomorrow,” he said with more conviction this time. Staying here was too dangerous, he needed to get them back home before anything else bad happened. Doing it tomorrow would be risky, but if he hurt himself Papyrus could just teleport him to a healer.

“Edge, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Blueberry said. “You’re injured and I can’t even begin to imagine how much you must’ve been stressing out in your jail cell. So maybe the day after tomorrow, in the morning if you’re feeling up to it.”

“We don’t have that kinda time though. Undyne’s looking for us, and knowing her she’s not going to rest until she does. And she’s gonna think to look here eventually. If I end up hurting myself Paps can just teleport me to a healer, so it won’t matter.”

“It would matter to us. You’ve already been hurt more than enough already.” Blueberry said. “And what if you die, huh? Not only would that be the _worst_ possible thing, it might kill both of us too. Who’s to say we’ll land on the other side if you don’t.”

Edge flinched. Blueberry had a point. If he died of magic depletion mid-teleport they might not make it to the other side either. And even though there was a time not too long ago that he probably wouldn’t have minded dying too much, he did now. He had something to live for now.

“Fine.” He sighed. “I’ll do it your way. But if I rest all day tomorrow I might be able to do it tomorrow night. I’ll uh see how I feel then though, okay?”

“Okay,” Blueberry said. “That works, but don’t push yourself. If you can’t do it tomorrow night that’s fine. It’s not worth hurting yourself.”

“All right that works,” Papyrus said. “I guess we’ll just have to keep a look out to make sure no one sneaks up on us. And if they do I’ll just teleport us somewhere else.”

“Yeah, as long as we stay out of the range of those magic blocker things we should be fine,” Blueberry said as if that were the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. But as long as they remained vigilant it would probably be fine.

“Also, Edge,” Papyrus said. “I’m really glad you’re okay too. We were both super worried about ya.”

“Oh uh, thanks, I think,” Edge said. It was nice knowing that he had two people who cared about him. “But uh sorry about making ya guys worried. I shoulda been more prepared for a situation like that.”

“Nah, it’s not your fault,” Papyrus said. “There was no way ya could’ve guessed anything like that would happen. But uh, I guess I’ll take first watch and let you guys get back to… ya know.” He made a vague hand gesture towards them before disappearing with a small pop, presumably to keep watch in a nearby tree or something.

“Wow, we really should to try to stop making Paps uncomfortable all the time,” Blueberry said with a smile. “Come on, let’s go get out a sleeping bag and cuddle up in it.”

Blueberry ran back over to the pack once more and pulled out a bigger than normal sleeping bag. They’d brought it along in case they’d ended up in a situation where they had to sleep on the ground. Blueberry had made sure to get one big enough for the both of them, even though they would have to cuddle up close to both fit.

Blueberry let Edge crawl in first, a task made more difficult by his broken arm. Blueberry then crawled in with him, cuddling as close as he could, still being careful of his injured arm, before zipping it shut.

“I’m so glad you’re okay Edge,” Blueberry whispered. “You mean so much to me and I don’t think I could take it if anything bad ever happened you. I tried not to worry too much but I know how messed up your world is. (Don’t apologize about that again by the way.) And I’m sorry they hurt you. When we get home the first thing we’ll do is get a healer to look at you.”

“It’s okay, really,” Edge said, fighting the urge to sleep. But between his exhaustion and how warm he was, cuddled up with Blueberry, he wouldn’t be able to fight it for long. “This’ll all be worth it when we get to see the Surface.” Unless the Barrier didn’t recognize the soul as valid, in which case this would all be wasted and they’d have to find another way.

“That still doesn’t make what happened to you okay. But yeah, when we get to the Surface everything will be better. And I’ll never ever let anyone hurt you ever again, I promise. And if they try, they’ll have to go through me first.”

Edge was too tired to come up with a proper reply for that. He believed it though. Once he was safe in Blueberry’s world again, no one would hurt him anymore. He’d never fully realized that before now, but right now it was really nice to think about.

“And Edge, I love you,” Blueberry said before pressing their mouths together in a kiss.

“I love ya too,” Edge mumbled with a smile when they separated. He didn’t hear if Blueberry said anything else as he drifted off to sleep at last.


	56. Keeping Watch

Papyrus woke Blueberry about half way through the night for him to take a turn keeping watch.

“Okay I’ll wake you guys if I see anything,” Blueberry promised as he dragged himself out of the warm sleeping bag, being careful not to wake Edge. He was a heavy sleeper so it wasn’t that hard.

Edge wouldn’t be taking a turn keeping watch later. Blueberry hadn’t told him that because he probably would’ve tried to object to it. But he needed as much rest as he could get. Not only because he deserved it after what he’d been through yesterday. But also because he was their ticket home. The more rest he got the sooner he could teleport them back home without risking hurting himself.

“’Kay, see ya in the morning,” Papyrus said with a yawn as he pulled out his own sleeping bag from the pack. He lay it a short distance away from where Edge was still sleeping.

Before leaving, Blueberry bent down to kiss Edge’s forehead. He was so glad Edge was okay and that they’d managed to rescue him. Seeing that Edge’s arm had been broken had made Blueberry feel even worse about his arrest, and even angrier at Undyne and the dogs for arresting him. It was wrong to treat someone like that. Without his magic, Edge would’ve basically been at their mercy and unable to defend himself. How could anyone be that cruel?

With a sigh, Blueberry moved a short distance away, but close enough that he could still see Edge and Papyrus, even in the darkness. He then sat himself down with his back against a tree in a spot where he was able to see a fair way down the path while still remaining relatively out of sight. This was the same spot he’d sat in last time he and Edge had been here. Back when they’d had that confrontation with Edge’s brother.

That hadn’t been all that long ago, only a couple weeks, but it felt like it had been ages. It was it still hard to think about. Seeing an alternate version of Papyrus be so mean, especially to his own brother, would always be incomprehensible to Blueberry. Seeing Undyne being mean and violent was the same way, and almost just as upsetting.

But now that Edge was comparatively safe, Blueberry found himself relaxing a lot more. He was still worried since they were still in a dangerous spot and would be for at least one more day. But having Edge safe and by his side again lifted his mood immensely. As a result, time went by fairly quickly, and soon the lights started to brighten, the Underground’s equivalent of dawn.

But still Blueberry remained where he was. He wasn’t going to wake either Papyrus or Edge unless he saw someone coming. They both deserved some rest and it’s not like they had anything to wake up for anyway.

Papyrus was the first to wake up, a few hours after ‘dawn’. “Hey bro, what’s up?” he said with a yawn and a stretch. After storing his sleeping bag, he moved to sit against the tree to Blueberry’s right. In the tree line where he couldn’t be spotted from the path.

“Nothing really,” Blueberry replied. “It’s been quiet the whole time, no one’s come by.”

“That’s good. Hopefully it’ll stay that way.”

“Yeah, but even if it doesn’t we’ll just teleport somewhere else.” Hopefully no one would think to look here anyway, it was a dead end after all. And it was a long way from the river and the spot they’d rescued Edge. It would make sense to look around that area and along the river first, right? Unless Undyne knew about the teleports and knew Edge might try to hide here due to its remoteness. But there was no way she’d sneak up on them as long as someone was always watching the path. Unless she and her guards snuck through the trees, but with their big bulky armor they’d have trouble navigating and would be heard coming from a fair distance away. They just had to remain vigilant so that no one could sneak up on them.

It wasn’t until almost halfway through the day before Edge stirred awake. “Blueberry?” he said, sitting up and looking blearily around.

“Good morning Edge.” Blueberry smiled at him.

“’Morning,” he mumbled as he stood up and walked over to sit right next to Blueberry.

His broken arm was still secured in the sling made from Blueberry’s scarf. It had to still hurt regardless though, right? But it didn’t seem to be bothering him much, so it was probably fine. Even though the reason it didn’t bother him much was probably more to do with the fact that he was used to things like that and not because it wasn’t that bad. Which was sad.

Blueberry put an arm Edge’s shoulders, pulling him a little closer. Edge leaned into him, resting his head on Blueberry’s shoulder.

It was still absolutely wonderful to have Edge back.  Blueberry was tempted to squeeze him tight and tell him how much he loved him. But he couldn’t, he had to be mindful of Edge’s broken arm and probable other injuries too. Also, that would make Papyrus uncomfortable again. He settled for giving Edge a quick good morning kiss instead.

“Now that Edge is up, let’s have some lunch,” Blueberry said. Him and Papyrus had had breakfast earlier and Blueberry had considered waking Edge for it. But he’d decided not to, Edge needed and deserved as much rest as possible.

Lunch was of course bland, boring travel food. But it was better than nothing. And at least they had brought enough food to last the three of them several more days, so they were in no danger of running out anytime soon.

“Now what are we going to do?” Blueberry asked once they done eating. Edge was still sitting next to him, leaning against him. Blueberry was probably going to be a little clingy to him for at least as long as they were here. There was no way he was going to let Edge out of his sight for even half a second after what had happened yesterday. And he’d die before letting anyone try to take Edge away from him again.

“Not a whole lot we can do,” Papyrus said. “Not until Edge is recovered enough to take us home anyway.”

“Yeah,” Blueberry agreed. “How are you feeling by the way Edge? Does are your arm still hurt?”

“Yeah, a bit. It’s not that bad though,” Edge said with a small shrug.

“That’s good,” Blueberry said before giving Edge a quick kiss on the cheek. “I guess there's really not much to do other than wait."


	57. Surprise

Edge happily listened to Blueberry talk about what he thought the Surface was going to be like based off what he’d seen in some of the anime he’d watched with Undyne and Alphys. Edge doubted much of the information would prove to be accurate. But it didn’t matter, they’d be finding out what the Surface was actually like soon after they got home. Assuming of course their plan worked. After all they went through here, it _better_ work or Edge was going to be pissed.

Edge still couldn’t get over how wonderful it was to be with Blueberry again. And despite their surroundings and continued danger, he was almost completely relaxed. But he wasn’t going to allow himself to be so, not after what had happened yesterday. A small part of him remained on alert.  Between the three of them hopefully no one would be able to sneak up on them.

From where he sat, cuddled against Blueberry, he could see a fair way down the path. With some amusement, he realized that this was at least near the exact spot they had sat last time he and Blueberry had been here together. Back when he’d killed Boss for trying to hurt Blueberry.

It was still weird to think about that, and all the events surrounding it. Why had he thought leaving Blueberry and his world was a good idea? Being with Blueberry was perhaps the first time in his life that he felt truly happy. Not to mention safe from anyone trying to kill him and from being beat up by Boss for the slightest annoyance. And he’d known that him leaving would make Blueberry sad, so why had he tried to do it?

“Hey Edge,” Blueberry said suddenly. “Does it ever bother you that no one calls you by your real name anymore? Like almost everyone we know still calls me ‘Sans’ most of the time. But no one ever calls you that even though it’s your name too.”

“Oh uh, no it doesn’t really bother me,” Edge said with a shrug. He’d been called ‘Sans’ pretty much only by people who didn’t like him and who he didn’t like either. So, he was fine with being referred to solely by his nickname. “Why’d this come up?”

“Yesterday when we were walking around Snowdin I heard several people talking about you. Obviously, they were calling you ‘Sans’ and I was kind of confused by it at first. It made me realize that even though that was your real name no one ever called you that. I was worried that that might bother you at least a little bit, but I’m glad to know that it doesn’t.”

“We could still call ya ‘Sans’ sometimes if ya like,” Papyrus offered.

“Nah, I prefer ‘Edge’,” he said. That was the nickname Blueberry had given him back when he’d decided that they were going to be friends even though Edge hadn’t been acting all that nice towards him at the time. Also, being called ‘Sans’, even if it was only occasionally, would confuse him now because of how much he was used to them referring to him as ‘Edge’.

Before anyone could say anything else they were interrupted by a sound coming from behind them. It sounded like a twig being snapped, as if someone were stepping on it. Being on alert after yesterday’s fiasco, Edge instantly stood up and turned around, ready to face whatever it was. He froze when he saw what the source of the sound had to be.

Undyne stood a few feet away. With her were the dogs, Greater Dog, Dogaressa, and Dogamy (apparently, he’d survived his dip in the water last night, unfortunate). Nick, holding a magic blocker, stood a foot or two behind them. None of them wore armor and were instead dressed in camouflage clothing that would’ve made them hard to see if they weren’t a few feet away. They’d frozen too, probably because of the twig snapping and them having been discovered.

“Run,” Blueberry said, grabbing Edge’s hand as the three of them made a break for it.

“Don’t even think about it,” Undyne shouted after them as she and her posse no doubt gave chase.

The three of them dashed across the path. But before they even reached the tree line on the other side, another line of guards stepped out. Looks like Undyne had brought a large portion of the Royal Guard on this mission. These ones were also wearing camouflage clothing instead of armor. Undyne had somehow guessed they were going to be here and had set up the entire operation to be as stealthy as possible.

They turned to run down the path, towards Snowdin, but the guards had stepped out around them and had cut off their escape.

“Ha, can’t get away now,” Undyne taunted as her group blocked off the path to the Ruins and other side of the forest. They were surrounded.

Blueberry pulled Edge closer as the guards tightened their ring, leaving no room to run past them. At the same time, Papyrus moved closer as well so that they were standing on either side of Edge. They were trying to protect him!

“You think I didn’t know you’d teleport all the way out here.” Undyne sneered. She stepped forward to stand directly in front of them, the guards moving in to close the ring behind her. “Now where’s the… wait a minute, Papyrus?” A confused expression came over her face as she scrutinized Papyrus’ face.

“Yeah, I…” Papyrus began before being cut off by Dogaressa’s angry growl.

“He’s not Papyrus,” she said. “He’s Papyrus’ clone, just like that other one is Sans’ clone.”

“Yes, that makes sense,” Undyne said, most of her anger returning to her face. “Now where’s the human soul?”

“Why don’t you go fuck yourself you fucking cunt,” Edge growled at her against his better judgement, instinctively trying to summon a group of Blasters to hit her with. But he could see Nick standing just outside the circle of guards surrounding them, looking apprehensive and holding the magic blocker. If he could somehow find a way to break the blocker, get Nick to drop it or something…

“Shut the fuck up Sans before I break your fucking jaw off,” Undyne growled at him. She opened her mouth to say something else but Blueberry cut her off.

“Don’t you _dare_ try to hurt him,” he said, his voice was filled with anger as he glared Undyne. It was still weird seeing Blueberry angry and Edge would probably never get used to it.

An evil grin splayed across Undyne’s face. “You think you can stop me.” She began raising her spear, clearly intending to hit Edge over the head with the butt end of it. But even before he could began to dodge away from it, Papyrus grabbed onto it.

“Yeah no, not gonna happen,” he said.

Edge took advantage of Undyne’s disbelief at Papyrus’ actions by lashing out with his good hand. Judging by how little care she was taking in defending herself she clearly wasn’t used to fighting without her armor. He slashed at her unprotected midriff, sinking his claws in as deep as they would go. Which admittingly wasn’t all that deep, but was still more than enough to draw blood and probably hurt like hell.

Undyne was forced to relinquish her spear to Papyrus as she jumped back away from Edge, clutching at her bleeding abdomen. “ _Kill_ him, take the other two alive,” she commanded, anger and hatred burning in her eye. Maybe attacking her when they were in this situation hadn’t been such a smart idea after all.

But he didn’t have long to consider that before the guards started closing in. “He’s _mine_ ,” Dogamy growled gleefully as he got down on all fours to charge at Edge.

As fast as Edge was and as good as he was at dodging, there wasn’t much he could do to get out of the way of an enraged canine. Not without his teleport power anyway, which he instinctively tried to use but to no avail.

Dogamy hit him like a truck, knocking him to the ground. His momentum causing them to slide several feet in the snow. “You’re gonna _pay_ for what you did to me yesterday,” he growled, his foul-smelling breath hot in Edge’s face. He wrapped one hand roughly around Edge’s neck.

Edge tried unsuccessfully to swing his hand up and claw out Dogamy’s eye, like he’d done yesterday to Dogaressa. But Dogamy used his other hand to force Edge’s hand back down in the snow, holding it there.

Dogamy started putting pressure on Edge’s neck bone with his thumb. He was going to snap it!

Panicked, Edge tried to wiggle free. But even without his armor Dogamy was at least twice as heavy as Edge and twice as big.

Just as the pressure on his neck was about to become unbearable, Dogamy let out a loud yelp of pain. He let of Edge’s neck and hand as he curled in on himself.

Edge quickly scrambled out from underneath him. Looking up he saw that Blueberry had jammed the spear they’d stolen from Undyne through Dogamy’s unarmored flank. The spear point had been shoved clear through the other side, dripping blood.

Blueberry’s eye lights shrunk to pinpricks as he stared at Dogamy. His mouth hung open in shock as his visibly shaky hands released the spear.

But they didn’t have time to dwell on this. They still had to get away from a host of other guards.

With a growl, Edge stood up. He grabbed the end of the spear sticking out of Dogamy, ripping it out. Dogamy gave another loud yelp of pain as the spear point was pulled back through him, abruptly cutting off as he fell to dust. He would’ve died anyway, but this way it was Edge who had killed him not Blueberry. Also, Edge needed the spear for what he planned to do next.

“No!” Dogaressa howled with pain and grief as she ran over to the pile of dust that had once been her mate.

The rest of the guards had paused too, they clearly hadn’t expected an outcome like that. But this momentary pause in action was all Edge needed. It only took him half a heartbeat to locate Nick, he’d moved closer to get a better view of the action. Perfect.

Adjusting the blood covered spear in his hand, Edge threw it as hard as he could towards Nick. He was aiming to hit the magic blocker, but aiming with nonmagical weapons had never been a strong suit of his.

The spear went wide of its target. Luck was on his side though (for once) and it lodged into one of the trees next to Nick’s head. With a cowardly yelp, he jumped and ducked to the side, dropping the magic blocker as he did so. Those things had always been fragile, dropping them from a height of more than a foot or two almost always broke them.

The second after it hit the ground Edge summoned a bunch of Blasters in a tight ring around himself, Blueberry, and Papyrus. Despite how exhausting he knew it would be, he set them all firing at once forcing the guards to duck low. He wouldn’t be able to keep it up for more than few minutes and it was only an effective shield because the guards hadn’t been expecting it. But they only needed for it be effective for as long as it took them to teleport somewhere else.

He grabbed Blueberry’s arm, pulling him closer to Papyrus. “Get us out,” he shouted.

“Where to?” Papyrus asked, a panicked look on his face.

“Doesn’t matter, long as it’s not here.” Edge could see that Undyne had summoned a barrage of spears. But before they could start to come down, Papyrus grabbed onto Edge and Blueberry, teleporting them out.


	58. Upset

The teleport lasted longer than it should’ve. Edge was by no means used to how it felt to be teleported by someone else. But it had been quick every other time Papyrus had teleported with him. This was not, in fact it lasted about as long as when he teleported to other universes. Only this time he felt what Blueberry had described as a ‘crushing blackness’. He never felt that when he was the one doing it.

When they landed on the other side his suspicions about this were confirmed. They were in the exact same spot, middle of the path on the way to the Ruins. The guards were gone as well as all signs of their confrontation with them. And Edge could tell from the feel of the place that this wasn’t his world anymore, or Blueberry’s world.

Papyrus mumbled something incoherent as he staggered before collapsing sideways. Blueberry jumped out of his daze just in time to catch him.

Exhausted from his stunt with the Blasters, Edge wished he could take a nap too. But there were things that needed to get done first. Like figuring out where they were and whether or not they were safe. But most importantly making sure that Blueberry was going to be okay.

“He okay?” Edge asked as Blueberry gently lowered Papyrus to the ground, leaning him up against a tree.

“Yeah, I think so,” Blueberry said. “But what about you? Did… Dogamy… hurt you?”

“No uh, I’m good,” Edge said as he adjusted the makeshift sling made from Blueberry’s scarf. It had been messed up a little from all the action earlier. It, as well as almost every other part of his body hurt at least a little bit, but complaining wouldn’t make it better. “What about you?”

Edge had seen the look on Blueberry’s face after he’d stabbed Dogamy with that spear. The look of shock, horror and utter disbelief.

“Yeah, I’m… all right, but I… I hurt him pretty bad huh?” Blueberry said, tears forming in his eyes. “He… died because of me.”

“What? No, I killed him. It wasn’t you.” After wiping Undyne’s blood off his claws with a bit of snow, Edge placed his hand on Blueberry’s shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting manner.

“Yeah, but he would’ve died even if you hadn’t…” Blueberry paused, taking a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to hurt him that bad. I just… He was trying to hurt you and I got so mad. And there was a weapon right there and… I… wasn’t really thinking. I just wanted to stop him from… hurting you.”

“And you did, if ya hadn’t done that he would’ve killed me for sure.”

“But I could’ve just stabbed him in the arm or something. I didn’t need to hurt him _that_ bad.” The tears in Blueberry’s eyes spilled over. “I know he was a bad person, so I probably shouldn’t be this upset about it but… I just… don’t like hurting people.”

“It’s okay to be upset about it,” Edge assured him. He himself didn’t feel the slightest bit of remorse over killing Dogamy, it had needed to be done. But even so Blueberry shouldn’t have had any part in it. He was super sweet and nice, hurting people went against his very nature. Even hurting somebody as horrible as Dogamy had upset him. But he’d done it anyway to save Edge. That meant a lot. “And I’m sorry ya had to do that, but I’m really glad ya did. If ya hadn’t I’d be dead, so thank you.”

“I know,” Blueberry said, voice breaking as he wrapped his arms around Edge, burying his face in Edge’s coat.

Edge held Blueberry as close as he could with only one arm. He hated seeing Blueberry sad and upset like this and wished there was more he could do to make him feel better. Blueberry should’ve never been put in that kind of position. Edge should’ve been able to defend himself better, or he should’ve made sure to have finished off Dogamy when he’d fallen into water during the fight on the boat. It was too late for any of that though. But at the very least Edge had been the one to finish off Dogamy. Meaning Blueberry didn’t have to bear the full weight of Dogamy’s death on his shoulders.

They held each like that for a long while. Eventually, Blueberry’s tears dried and he pulled back. He didn’t look as happy as he usually did but he didn’t look quite as upset as before either. “What’s important is that you’re okay,” he said. “I hurt him that bad because I was protecting you. Yeah, I probably could’ve hurt him less severely and still gotten the same result. But what’s done is done, I can’t change it no matter how much I wish I could. And if I hadn’t done something he would’ve killed you so… better he die than I just sit there and let him kill you because I didn’t want to hurt anybody.”

Edge opened his mouth to apologize for them ending up in that shitty situation to begin with but paused when Blueberry held up a finger. “Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault,” he said.

“How’d ya know I was gonna apologize?”

“Because you always apologize when something bad happens. Even though it’s almost never your fault. And it most certainly is not your fault this time either. So, don’t blame yourself,” Blueberry said, patting Edge on the arm. “Now we should probably figure out what kind of world we’re in and decide what to do from there.”

“Yeah,” Edge agreed with a tired sigh. Now that he knew Blueberry was going to be okay his need for a nap was growing stronger. He’d never fired that many Blasters at once before and it had drained his magic reserves significantly. Meaning they were probably going to be stuck here for at least another full day, maybe longer. But at least they wouldn’t have the Royal Guard hunting for them here. So even if they were in another unfriendly world they were still safer than before.

Blueberry crouched down besides Papyrus. Slipping his hand into Papyrus’ hoodie pocket, he pulled out the glass jar with the human soul still floating inside it. After examining it for cracks, he put it in his own pocket.

“It’s weird though, I thought Paps couldn’t do the whole universe hopping thing,” Blueberry said. “Or at least he couldn’t do it when he tried to earlier.”

The situation had been different this time though. He’d been specifically trying to run away this time whereas before he’d been trying to go somewhere. Every time Edge had teleported to a new world it had always been coupled with a strong urge to get away from wherever he was. The only times that hadn’t been the case had been when he was returning to a world he’d already teleported to like that.

“Maybe he couldn’t do it before because he was trying to go somewhere and this time he was just running away,” Edge said, voicing his theory. That was really the only way that this made sense.

“I don’t know much about teleporting and stuff so maybe that’s it. Regardless of why he’s able to do it, I’m glad to be out of there.” Blueberry said. “But I guess the first thing we should do is go to the outskirts of Snowdin and check to see if this is a friendly world or not.”

“’Kay,” Edge said with a yawn, his eyes starting to droop. He could easily fall asleep right now, but Blueberry was right. There was stuff that needed to be done first.

“Oh, you must be tired, huh? You summoned a _lot_ of Blasters, I don’t even know how many there were. That was super awesome by the way. And you broke the magic blocker too. We would’ve been in for a real bad time if it wasn’t for you.”

Edge couldn’t help but smile at Blueberry’s praise.

“But don’t worry,” Blueberry continued. “I’m sure you’ll get a chance to take a nap soon.” He stepped forward, giving Edge a quick kiss. “Now come on, let’s go sort this stuff out.”


	59. Neon Colours

“You good to do a few quicks teleports? Or do you want to stay here with Paps while I do some scouting on foot?” Blueberry asked.

“I can do a few teleports,” Edge said. The sooner they knew what kind of world they were in the sooner he could safely take a nap.

After they’d ensured that Papyrus was sort of hidden, Edge took Blueberry’s hand and teleported them to the outskirts of Snowdin town. Just inside the tree line so that they could peek into the town without being spotted.

Of course, it was much like any other Snowdin. Similar layout of buildings and the surrounding areas were basically the same. But Edge was relieved to see that it was colourful, with bright neon lights scattered about the place. That was odd, but it meant this was probably a friendly world.

Being the outskirts of town there weren’t all that many people visible but the ones that were didn’t appear to be hostile. In fact, judging by the couple making out in the middle of the street like it was no big deal, they were more than just not hostile. Most of them seemed be wearing bright clothing too.

“We should go say ‘hi’ to this world’s version of us and Paps,” Blueberry said. “Maybe they’ll let us hang out at their place until you’re ready to take us back home.”

“’Kay.” Edge was more than willing to let Blueberry call the shots here. “Wanna grab Paps, or go talk to them first?”

“We should go talk to them first,” Blueberry said after a couple seconds of thought. “That way if they let us stay, you can teleport Paps straight to the couch without us having to carry him.”

“Kay,” Edge said again before teleporting them in front of the door to the house.

Blueberry knocked. There was a long pause where nobody answered so Blueberry knocked again. Edge was beginning to think no one was going to answer when it was finally opened by this world’s version of Sans.

Right off the bat Edge didn’t like him. He wore a black tank top with a light blue heart in the center, it failed to cover his spine. Over that he wore a sleeveless purple coat with bright blue fur around the collar and bottom.

“Ah, you two must be alternate versions of myself from different universes,” he said.

“Oh, you already know about that stuff?” Blueberry asked.

“Yeah, I’ve met versions of myself from different universes before, never two at once though. But this cool, it means we can make a _Sans_ wich,” he replied with grin.

“Uh, I don’t know what that means,” Blueberry said. Edge didn’t either but he was pretty sure they didn’t want to know. “But my nickname’s ‘Blueberry’ and his is ‘Edge’. We were wondering if we could hang out at your place until Edge is able to teleport us back home. You see my brother teleported us here kind of on accident and he passed out because of it. And because of… the stuff that happened in the universe we were in before this, Edge can’t take us home yet. So, we need to place to rest for a day or two.”

“Sure, ya can hang out here as long as ya like. My nickname’s ‘Lust’ by the way.”

“Why?” Edge asked with a sense of foreboding as he remembered that Sanswich pun Lust had made earlier.

“Because it is,” Lust said with a wink, sticking out a bright purple tongue. “Now why don’t ya go grab your bro and bring him back here? You guys can sleep in my room if ya like.”

Before Blueberry could reply or Lust could say anything else, Edge teleported himself and Blueberry back to where they’d left Papyrus. “I don’t like him,” he said as soon as they landed.

“I guess he is a bit… odd and his nickname is… interesting,” Blueberry said. “But he seems nice and he’s offering to let us stay at his place. That’s certainly better than camping out in the snow again. Especially since we accidentally left our pack with all the food and sleeping bags in it behind in the other world.”

“Yeah, I know but I don’t like him.” Edge would’ve crossed his arms if he were able to. He hadn’t liked the way Lust had been looking at them or what his nickname implied he was like.

“I know,” Blueberry said, patting his arm. “But it’s okay. You’ll only have to put up with him for a day or two and then we can go home. And we when get home we’ll get to break the Barrier and see the Surface. So, just try to patient and don’t let him bother you too much, okay?”

“I’ll try.” Edge sighed, letting the tension fall from his body. He could play nice for a day or two, that wasn’t that long. And Blueberry would be there to prevent him from doing anything stupid. Or at least hopefully he would be able to prevent Edge from doing anything stupid.

“That’s all I’m asking,” Blueberry said with a smile. “Now let’s go get Paps and ourselves somewhere more comfortable, shall we?”

Edge sighed again as he put his hand on Papyrus’ shoulder as Blueberry’s placed a hand on his arm. He teleported the three of them to the living room where Lust was waiting for them with an annoying smile.

“You can go ahead and take your bro to one of the upstairs rooms, so we can hang out on the couch and maybe have a bit of fun,” Lust said with a sly smirk.

“You really okay with us using your room?” Blueberry asked.

“Yeah sure, as long your bro’s unconscious he won’t be much fun anyway.”

“Well okay then if you’re sure,” Blueberry said, putting his hand on Edge’s arm once more in a gesture for him to teleport again.

Feeling increasingly exhausted, Edge teleported to the room he guessed would be Lust’s room. The room that would’ve been Papyrus’ room if they were back home, or his if they were in his world. It was just as garish as could expected based of how Lust was dressed, bright purples and blues everywhere.

“See, he’s nice,” Blueberry said as he tucked Papyrus in on the bed. “He’s even letting us stay in his room.”

“Yeah, but he… bothers me.” Edge wasn’t sure if he could explain to Blueberry exactly why Lust bothered him so much. It was a mix of his nickname and seemingly flirtatious nature. Not to mention the fact that he dressed like a stereotypical prostitute.

“That’s fine, you don’t have to like him,” Blueberry assured him. “You’re probably going to be napping most of the time we’re here anyway. So, let’s go back downstairs down and see if we can’t take you to healer to look at your arm. And then after that you can take a nap on the couch or up, whichever you prefer.”

Edge groaned at the thought of having to deal with another healer but followed along as Blueberry took his hand and headed for the door. They closed it behind them before going down the stairs.

“Oh, how cute, your holding hands,” Lust said as he walked over to meet them when they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah, me and him are dating,” Blueberry said with a proud smile.

“I guessed as much,” Lust said, taking a step closer. “So Edge, what’s with the sharp teeth and dark clothing?”

“Just how I am,” Edge said, forcing himself to try to act civil despite the fact that Lust was starting to encroach on his personal space.

“It’s _hot_ ,” Lust said with a grin as he took another step closer, further encroaching on Edge’s personal space.

Edge let out a low growl as he took a step backwards. He was _not_ in the mood to be flirted with or hit on especially with someone like Lust.

“Whoa hey,” Blueberry cut in before Lust could respond. “Let’s not fight, okay?”

“I’m not trying to start a fight,” Lust said. “I’m just flirting with him.”

“Yeah well, please don’t,” Blueberry said, coming to Edge’s rescue once more. “He clearly doesn’t like it.”

“What? You don’t wanna share? We could make a _Sans_ wich,” Lust said with a wink. “It’ll be fun, I promise.”

“No I don’t want to… share and I still don’t know what you mean by that,” Blueberry said.

“He doesn’t mean anything by that and he’s not going to explain it,” Edge said with a growl as Lust started to open his mouth, probably to explain what he meant by Sanswich. Given more context Edge knew _exactly_ what Lust meant by that and was _not_ about to have anything to do with it. “And I swear to god, if you try to touch him I’m gonna claw your fucking face off.”

“Oh, looks like Edgy Mc My Chemical Romance doesn’t just look vicious he _is_ vicious,” Lust said with a laugh.

“Why don’t you just go fuck yourself?” Edge snapped, letting go of Blueberry’s hand so he could flip Lust off, he was too tired to even try to be civil anymore. Why did everybody have to call him that? It wasn’t funny. And how did so many people come up with the same annoying nickname anyway? It was starting to get more than a little old.

“I’d gladly go fuck myself,” Lust said. “In fact, that’s exactly what I’m trying to accomplish here. So, how ‘bout it you two, wanna have threesome?”

“What? No, we don’t want to do anything like… that,” Blueberry said, his face blushing a bright blue. “And earlier you must’ve meant… Yeah, no, we’d rather not.”

“Yeah, so fuck off before I make ya,” Edge growled as he positioned himself between Blueberry and Lust.

“Ugh fine, you guys are no fun,” Lust complained as he finally withdrew and flopped on the couch. “How come every other version of me that I meet never wants to fuck, no matter how appealing I try to make it. Paps got to fuck a version of himself once. So, why I can’t I?”

“Why would ya even want to?” Edge asked, slightly calmer now that Lust had withdrawn both physically and in his bid to be the grossest pervert possible.

“Because it’d be fun,” Lust said as if that made total sense. “I imagine you two probably fuck all the time. Am I right? Is it fun to fuck yourself?”

“What? That’s not… Let’s not talk about stuff like that, okay? It’s personal and shouldn’t be talked about,” Blueberry said, his blush growing brighter.

“I forgot most worlds aren’t as open about sex as mine is,” Lust said with a laugh. “Your blushing is cute though.”

Edge let out a low growl as a warning to Lust to not take that flirting any further.

“Oh, calm down Edge,” Lust said. “I’m not trying to take your boyfriend from ya. I’m just saying his embarrassment is cute, that’s all. Surely you of all people can agree, right?”

“Shut up,” Edge said. He’d hadn’t been worried that Lust was trying to take Blueberry from him. He just didn’t like the thought of Lust flirting with Blueberry, especially right in front of him. And it wasn’t Lust’s place to determine if Blueberry was cute or not.

“Uh… anyway,” Blueberry said raising his voice a little before Lust could respond. “Edge’s arm is broken. Do you think we could take him to go see a healer and get it fixed?”

Edge wasn’t sure he liked the idea of going to go see a healer in this world. He’d much rather wait until they got home. But there was no way Blueberry would let him do that, so there was no use trying to argue with him about it.

“Sure,” Lust replied. “But how’d he break his arm?”

“Oh uh…” Blueberry said, his face falling “Somebody hurt him.”

“It wasn’t anyone important, so don’t ask about it,” Edge said. Lust didn’t need to know about any of the stuff that had happened involving them stealing the human soul, or Edge’s subsequent arrest followed by Dogamy’s death.

“Very well, let’s go I guess.” Lust stood up to once more walk over to them. “I’ll teleport us there so we don’t have to bother with walking.” Placing one hand on Blueberry and the other on Edge, Lust did just that.


	60. Hello Nurse

They landed in the same doctor’s office that Edge had gotten healed at last time. The colours were brighter and mostly consisted of bright purples and pinks, but other than that it looked the same. The nurse who was visibly surprised by their arrival also looked the same, except for her outfit. Which was bright pink and looked more like a sexy nurse costume than an actual nurse’s uniform.

“Yo doc,” Lust greeted her. “My pal’s arm is broken, wanna fix it?”

“Uh sure, that is my job,” she said recovering from her surprise, not even asking how they’d shown up so suddenly. Maybe she was familiar with the idea of teleporting. She gestured for Edge to hop up on the exam table.

“Do I have to?” he groaned, too tired for all this bullshit.

“Yes, you have to,” Blueberry said, giving him an encouraging smile. “I know that has to hurt and I don’t want you to be pain any longer than you have to.”

With a sigh, Edge hopped up onto the exam table, letting his legs hang over the side. Blueberry hopped up next to him to hold his good hand, much like he had last time.

“Don’t like visiting the doctor’s huh?” the nurse said. “Don’t worry sweetie, I’ll be _real_ gentle, I promise.” She gave him a flirtatious smile and a wink, making him even more uncomfortable. “Now take off your jacket dear, so I can get a better look at your arm.”

Hating this more and more, Edge slipped off his jacket. And with Blueberry’s help removed the scarf sling. He pulled back his shirt sleeve once it was off. Before once more taking Blueberry’s hand in his own.

“Oh, looks like somebody got a bit carried away,” she said, giving Blueberry a knowing look.

“Don’t you _dare_ suggest he had anything to do with it,” Edge growled at her. He was pretty sure he knew what she was thinking, that Blueberry had accidentally done it during rough sex or something. The fact that someone would even dare suggest such a thing made Edge’s nonexistent blood boil with rage.

The nurse took a small step back, intimidated by Edge’s show of anger. Good, she should be afraid of him.

“Whoa hey, let’s not get angry,” Blueberry said, pulling Edge’s gaze back to him. “I don’t think she meant to say anything offensive. So, just try to relax, okay?”

“I know but…” Edge took a deep breath, trying his best to let his anger and tension go. It was hard when he was so tired and when the ‘insult’ had been aimed at Blueberry. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “But it had nothing to do with him and is in no way related to what you were thinking.”

Blueberry smiled at him, giving his arm a gentle pat.

“Don’t worry about it sweetie,” the nurse said. “I’ve just never met anyone quite so angry before.”

Edge groaned at being called ‘sweetie’ again. But didn’t complain, that would only prolong their visit. “Just hurry up and get this shit over with so I can finally take a nap,” he said instead, holding up his arm so she could get a good look at it.

“Of course, dear,” she said as she stepped closer. “Now let me just get a good look see.” She took his arm in her hands, positioning it under the light to get a better look at it. “Wow, whoever did this certainly did a real number on you. But don’t worry, I can make it all better.”

Edge winced as she realigned his broken wrist and set the break in his arm back in place. Her hands then started glowing green and he felt the familiar warm tingly feeling that he’d felt last time he’d been healed.

Still uncomfortable with another’s person’s touch no matter how light or supposedly pleasant, Edge tensed up. But Blueberry gave his hand a comforting squeeze, making this at least slightly more tolerable.

“You two are super adorable, you know that?” the nurse said with a smile. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a pair as cute as you guys are.”

“Uh thanks, I guess,” Blueberry said with a light blush. Edge chose not to respond, he’d have no idea what to say anyway.

As the warmth of the healing magic spread across his arm and wrist, Edge watched his bones slowly start to knit back together. At first it felt just like it had before, when his eye had been healed by the healer back home, just warm and tingly. But soon the warmth became more of a heat that quickly spread from his arm to the rest of his body. It was… uncomfortable and had him feeling restless, he didn’t like it.

“What are you doing?” he asked, resisting the urge to rip his arm out of her hands.

“Healing you of course,” the nurse replied.

“Why is it hot?”

“That’s how it always is. Have you never been to healer before? But don’t worry dear, we can take care of it when your arms all healed up.”

“Ugh, just hurry it up,” Edge said, hating how the heat was starting to build.

“You okay Edge?” Blueberry asked, a worried expression on his face.

Edge nodded. There wasn’t technically anything wrong just that he was uncomfortable. Which had been how he’d felt during his first session with a healer. This was just worse, a lot worse. It probably had something to do with the nature of the world they were in. Why couldn’t they have ended up in any other kind of world? Why’d it have to be one centered around sex? But at least it was safe, no one was going to try to kill them here. That was about the only consolation he had.

It seemed to take _ages_ but finally at long last, after what was maybe twenty minutes or so but had felt like _hours_ , the nurse finished and pulled back. Edge let out a sigh of relief as she finally removed her hands from his newly healed arm. The heat was still there though. It had only gotten worse as time went on, it had even seeped into his soul. He was quite proud of himself for somehow managing to endure the entire healing session without pushing her away halfway through and teleporting out.

“Now I’m sure there are other things you’d like me to look at, right sweetie?” the nurse said with a suggestive tone as she leaned forward, her face inches from his own.

“No,” Edge growled at her. Instead of pushing her away with his foot or clawing her face, as he oh so wanted to do, he pulled back, pressing himself up against Blueberry.

“’No’?” The nurse’s eyes widened in surprise as she took a half step back.

“Oh uh, they’re from far away,” Lust cut in quickly, Edge had forgotten he was in the room. “The way they feel about stuff like that is very different from us.”

“Oh, okay. I’ve never had any of my patients say ‘no’ to me before.” She looked and sounded a little hurt by that. But Edge didn’t care and wasn’t going to apologize, he’d done nothing wrong.

“What are you guys talking about?” Blueberry asked. Ever innocent, of course he didn’t grasp what they were referring to.

“It’s not important,” Edge said, unable to keep himself from blushing. He still felt overly warm and uncomfortable as well as restless and tired and the same time. He probably wouldn’t be able to take a nap like this so he’d just have to suffer through it until it faded. Hopefully that wouldn’t be for too long a time.

“Sex,” Lust explained, much to Edge’s disapproval. “Over here healing magic is a _huge_ turn on. Normally after someone gets healed the nurse fucks them, which is basically part of their job at this point. I uh probably should’ve warned ya about this before we came here, huh?”

“Oh… Yeah, a warning would’ve appreciated,” Blueberry said with a slight blush of his own. “But Edge, are you going to be okay?”

“I don’t like it,” Edge complained with a whine as he hunched in on himself. He’d never felt like this before and _hated_ it.

“It’ll be okay, I promise. Just try not to stress about it too much, all right?” Blueberry said, touching his arm in a way that normally would’ve soothed him but in this instance only made his problem worse.

“Can we leave now? _Please_ ,” he begged.

“Yeah, of course if…”

Edge didn’t wait for Blueberry to finish his sentence before grabbing his jacket and teleporting them back to the house.


	61. Souls

Edge teleported them so that so that they were sitting on the couch next to each other like he normally did. But what wasn’t normal was the small amount of space between them. Normally he preferred to lean right up against Blueberry, but right now he wasn’t sure he could take that.

He had no idea what he was going to do about his problem. He still felt hot, needy, and restless. The worst part was that he had no idea how long this was going to last, how long he was going to have to suffer before he could finally take a much-needed nap.

“I hate this world,” he complained with a groan, pulling his jacket back on. Why couldn’t Lust have _warned_ them about this bullshit? Maybe Blueberry could’ve been convinced to wait until they were home before insisting he go see a healer. That way he wouldn’t have had to deal with this awful feeling and would be sleeping right now instead.

Before Blueberry could respond to his complaint Lust teleported in, standing in front of the T.V. “Yo Edge,” he said. “Ya want some help with that? We could make that _Sans_ wich I was talking about earlier. It’ll feel _real_ good, I promise.”

“ _No_ ,” Edge growled at him, flashing his eye in anger. “If ya even try to touch me, I’ll rip your fucking face off.”

“Whoa hey Edge,” Blueberry cut in, putting a hand on his arm. “Calm down, try not to be so angry.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Edge huffed. He was being overly angry at Lust, but he didn’t care. It was Lust’s fault for not telling them about this that this happened to him in the first place. So, he had every right to be upset with Lust, even if he was over reacting a little.

“No touching, got it,” Lust said with a thumbs up. “Ya can’t blame me for trying again though, can ya? But I take it you two probably don’t want me watching either, huh?”

“Who says we’re even going to do anything worth watching?” Edge said. The topic of sex had never come up between him and Blueberry even though they’d been sleeping in the same bed for a while now. He wasn’t sure how Blueberry felt about the idea of them doing something like that and wasn’t going pressure him into anything, no matter how turned on he was.

“Well, why wouldn’t you?” Lust asked. “I mean… Oh my gosh you guys are virgins. That’s why you’re all super shy and stuff. That’s actually kinda of adorable. That makes me wanna help even more. But ugh… I’ll let you guys have your privacy. I need to go talk to my bro about you guys anyway. See ya.” With that Lust disappeared once more with a small pop.

“Are you okay?” Blueberry asked, drawing Edge’s gaze back to him. He looked concerned. Well wasn’t that just perfect, Blueberry was worried about him again.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just… I _hate_ this. I’m so tired but can’t take a nap because I’m so restless and… uncomfortable. And Lust is annoying and I hate him. And I hate this fucking world with its fucking bullshit healing magic.” Unable to contain himself, Edge stood up to start pacing.

“It’s okay, just calm down and relax,” Blueberry said, taking hold of his wrist before he could take more than two steps. “Being angry and letting yourself get all stressed out about it isn’t going to fix it. Just sit down and try to relax a little, okay?”

Reluctantly, Edge sat down besides Blueberry once more. “But I…” He didn’t know how handle this and the only thing he could think to do was to pace it off. That would at least tire him out faster.

“You want me to help you?” Blueberry asked with a slight blush but continued to look Edge right in the eye.

Edge froze. He hadn’t considered if Blueberry would be willing to help or not, apparently, he was. And of course, he wanted Blueberry to help, he loved Blueberry more than anything. He just didn’t know how to say it. “I uh…” he stammered as he felt himself starting to blush. “Yeah, if you could help that would be… awesome.” As he said it he couldn’t even maintain eye contact.

“All right. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise,” Blueberry said in a cheery voice, a bright smile on his face despite the slight blue blush on his cheeks. “Who would’ve thought that our first time doing anything like this would be in a place like this. But that’s okay, I’m sure we can make the best of it.”

“Okay so uh… how do we start?” Edge asked, feeling mortified. He had absolutely _no_ idea what to do here but he needed to do something. He couldn’t take much more of this feeling.

“Well uh, we have two options, I think. We could either use our magic to create the uh necessary… parts. I’ve never done that before though and I’m not entirely sure how to do it.” Edge was just as clueless as Blueberry on that kind of thing. “Or, I could touch your soul and make you feel better that way. Given the situation and our lack of experience the second way seems easier. But we could try to figure out how to do the first if you’d prefer that. Whichever makes you more comfortable.”

The first way would take time and experimentation, something Edge normally wouldn’t have minded. But due to the situation and them not being in the safety and privacy of their own home, the second way seemed better. He also wanted relief as soon as possible so that he could finally sleep.

“Y-you can touch my soul.” He’d never thought he’d ever say anything like that in his whole life. He’d never thought he’d ever trust anyone enough to let them touch his soul.

“Okay,” Blueberry said with a smile as he slipped his gloves off and put them on the coffee table. “Now lie back and relax.” He gestured for Edge to lay across his lap. “I’ll take good care of you, I promise.”

Feeling nervous, Edge lay across Blueberry lap so that his head was resting on the arm rest. This close he was even more aware of how hot and needy he felt, worse than when he’d left the nurse’s office. He wanted to stand back up and pace. He’d never done anything even remotely like this before but he wanted it so bad.

“Just relax, okay? I’ll make you feel better, I promise,” Blueberry said with a reassuring smile as he petted the top of Edge’s skull. He placed a hand on Edge’s chest, above where his soul was. He felt Blueberry reach with his magic to pull it out with a small ping.

Blueberry let out a small grasp as his soul came into view. It was glowing at least twice as bright as it normally did. Its red glow had been obscured by his red shirt which was why that hadn’t noticed it before.

“Wow Edge, it’s so bright,” Blueberry said with a large smile. “It’s pretty.”

Edge felt his face grow bright hot at that statement, its glow probably rivaling his soul by now. He couldn’t believe Blueberry had just said that his soul was pretty. He didn’t know what it was but it certainly wasn’t pretty.

“Can I touch it?” Blueberry asked despite already having permission.

“Please.” Edge hated how needy he sounded. But now that his soul was summoned and in a state where it could be touched most of his heat and arousal seemed to focus on it. He _needed_ Blueberry to touch it or he was going to do it himself.

With a look of awe, Blueberry reached out and cupped Edge’s soul in hands. Edge couldn’t help but jerk a little at the sensation. He’d never had anyone touch his soul before, never even touched it himself, so he’d had little idea what to expect. It felt weird but also kind of nice.

And he felt safe. A couple months ago, if somebody had asked him what he thought it would be like for another monster to hold his soul he would’ve told them ‘unpleasant and scary’. His soul was the most vulnerable part of him. It was fragile and could be all too easily damaged if a person with bad intentions got their hands on it. But he’d entrusted it to Blueberry without even a moment’s hesitation.

“It’s wet,” Blueberry observed. And now that he’d pointed it out Edge could see that it did indeed look like it was oozing red magic. He’d never seen it do that before. But he’d also never been this turned on before either.

“Do something,” he pleaded. It felt good with Blueberry holding his soul like that, but it wasn’t enough.

“Oh sorry,” Blueberry said before slowly swiping his finger across the soul’s surface. As he did so Edge let out a surprised moan of pleasure, that he quickly tried to stifle by putting his hands over his mouth. He could _feel_ Blueberry’s intention to make him feel good.

“Did that feel good?” Like Blueberry even needed to ask.

“Y-yeah.” Edge nodded, embarrassed at how little it had taken to get him moan.

Blueberry smiled brightly down at him. “Good,” he said before turning his attention back to the soul in his hands. He started rubbing small slow circles into its surface.

Again, Edge could feel his intention to make him feel as good as possible. It made his whole body and soul feel suffused in pleasure and good feelings. He’d never experienced anything like it before, hadn’t even thought it would be possible to feel this good. It made his earlier stress and discomfort worth it.

“C-can I see your soul too?” he managed to gasp out, pulling his mind out of the pleasurable fog he was starting to fall into. “Wanna make ya feel good too.”

Blueberry paused, looking surprised. “Of course,” he said with a smile.

Sitting up a little, Edge put one hand over Blueberry’s chest where his soul should be. Reaching with his magic, he pulled it out with a small ping. It glowed a pretty blue colour, also brighter than normal. Not as bright as his own, but still bright.

“Can I touch it?” he asked. Part of him couldn’t believe that Blueberry would trust him enough to let him do something like that.

“Yeah, go ahead.” Blueberry nodded, giving him an encouraging smile.

Very carefully, Edge cupped his hands around Blueberry’s soul before relaxing back into a lying down position once more. He’d never touched another monster’s soul before and he was a bit afraid of hurting it. Even though he knew the only way he could hurt it was if it was his intention to do so. And he’d rather die than hurt Blueberry. But even so, it felt weird holding something so fragile and precious in his clawed hands. He wanted to make Blueberry feel good too though.

He slowly started rubbing small circles in Blueberry’s soul, focusing on his intention to make Blueberry feel as good as he had made him feel. It felt solid in hands but seemed to ripple underneath his touch.

“Oh, gosh Edge that’s…” Blueberry trailed off, his face flushing.

“Feels good huh?” Edge said with a grin. He focused all his intention on making Blueberry feel as good as possible, rubbing small tight circles onto the face of the Blueberry’s soul. As he did so its glow started intensifying, soon matching his own in brightness. It also grew slick and wet, oozing small amounts of blue magic.

Blueberry moaned, closing his eyes as he started rubbing Edge’s soul again. “Wow…” he said in a breathy whisper, lost for words for perhaps the first time in his life.

Edge didn’t even bother to try to say anything, or come up with a coherent thought. Instead, letting himself get lost in the heady sensations of pleasure coming from his soul and focusing on making Blueberry feel just as good if not better.

This wonderful pleasurable feeling seemed to last a short eternity. When at last, his soul hit its peak it was almost a surprise, he’d had no idea what the build up to it would be like. It was like an explosive burst of pleasure that left him disoriented and cross-eyed.

When his head finally stopped ringing and he could think again he saw Blueberry looking at him with a stunned expression on his face. Blueberry’s soul had returned to its normal brightness and Edge’s hands were covered in blue magic. Just as his own soul had returned to its normal brightness and Blueberry’s hands were covered in red magic. They’d finished at the same time.

“Wow, I didn’t expect that to happen,” Blueberry said with a laugh once the dazed look had left his face. He released Edge’s soul, allowing it to return to Edge’s ribcage. “You feel better?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Edge said with a relaxed smile, releasing Blueberry’s soul as well. He did feel better. His tiredness had returned but it wasn’t the desperate exhaustion from earlier but instead a peaceful sleepiness. His whole body felt relaxed and loose, and overall just plain good.

“Good, I’m glad. But now uh…” Blueberry looked at his red-stained hands with dismay.

“Got caught _red-handed_ , huh?” Edge said. He smiled at the look Blueberry shot him for that pun.

He examined his own hands, covered in blue magic. He was too tired and lazy to get up to clean them off. So, he stuck his tongue out to taste some of it. It had a light sweet flavor, about what he’d expected. Deciding he liked it, he ran his tongue along his palm. It only took him a few seconds to lick it all off, Blueberry watching him the whole time.

“I guess that’s one way to clean it off,” Blueberry said once he’d finished. He tentatively stuck out his own tongue to taste some of the red coating his own hands. With a small shrug, he followed Edge’s example, licking the rest of it off as well. “Not as clean as I would like but I guess it’ll do for now,” he said once he was done.

“Yeah,” Edge said as he eyelids started to grow heavy. “Love ya and thanks for helping.”

“I love you too,” Blueberry said, giving him a bright smile. “And I’m always willing to help you with anything. Now go to sleep. I know you must be exhausted after everything we’ve been through today.”

“If that pervert tries anything, wake me and I’ll claw his face off for ya.”

“I highly doubt he’ll try anything. And if he does I can take of it myself. So, don’t worry about me and go sleep now.”

The last thing Edge was aware of before drifting off was Blueberry bending down to kiss him gently on the forehead.

 

***

Blueberry smiled as he looked down at Edge’s sleeping face. He wanted to get up and wash his hands in the kitchen sink, his hands being covered in spit, his own or not, was not very clean. But Edge was still laying across his lap and Blueberry didn’t want to disturb him. Even if he was a heavy sleeper and would no doubt sleep right through it.

Another reason he didn’t want to get up though was that he was started to feel exhausted himself. Today had been a _long_ day. So many things, both good and bad had happened, and it wasn’t even time for supper yet.

He hadn’t expected Edge to reciprocate the soul touching. And he would’ve been content with just helping Edge with his problem and that’s it. But he had and it had been amazing. Blueberry had never felt that good in his entire life. Sex and soul touching was definitely something they were going to have to experiment more with in the future.

With a contented sigh, he took one of Edge’s hands in his own. He was fast asleep within minutes.


	62. Pink

Blueberry was woken several hours later by the sound the front door opening. Blinking open his eyes, he glanced over and saw Lust and his brother walk in.

Given what he already knew about this world, how it was centered around sex, Blueberry wasn’t surprised to see that this world’s Papyrus also dressed in revealing clothing. His shirt, if it could even be called that, didn’t even cover all of his ribs. Underneath his ribcage, he’d summoned a pink ecto-body for some reason. Wouldn’t it be exhausting to keep that up for any significant length of time like he seemed to be doing?

“I’m letting them sleep in my room tonight,” Lust was saying.

“I thought you said they didn’t want to sleep with you?” Pink Papyrus replied.

“Yeah, but who knows, they might change their minds. And if not there are a skeleton of other places I could sleep,” Lust said with a suggestive tone. “Yo Blueberry,” he said turning to Blueberry as he swung the front door shut behind him. “This is my bro.” He gestured to Pink Papyrus.

“Hi,” Blueberry greeted him with a smile. Hopefully he wasn’t going to be too flirty, Blueberry wasn’t in the mood for that right now. He kind of wished he could go back to napping, but now that he was awake that was highly unlikely.

“Hi.” Pink Papyrus returned his smile with a small wave. At least he seemed friendly and wasn’t being flirtatious, yet. “It’s very nice meet you. And don’t worry, my brother already told me that you and your boyfriend aren’t interested in having sex with either of us. So, I won’t ask.”

“Oh, thanks,” Blueberry said. Finally, someone who wasn’t going to pester them about sex. “It’s very nice to meet you too.”

“So, did you and Edge have fun while I was out?” Lust asked with a suggestive grin.

Blueberry felt his face go hot. He should’ve know Lust was going to bring this up. Sex genuinely seemed like it was thought of differently in this world. It wasn’t a big deal or anything special, just something people did a lot. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, it was just different. Different world, different social norms. Even though it did still make him extremely uncomfortable.

“I uh… yeah, we had… fun.” he managed to stammer out with a forced smile, still blushing. At least Edge was still asleep and probably would be for a little while yet. Hopefully when he woke up he would no longer be so ready to try to start unnecessary fights with Lust, or anyone else for that matter.

“Ah that’s good. Who topped? I’m guessing it was probably you.”

“We uh… that’s personal and uh private.” Blueberry didn’t want to talk about what they’d done. It had been a private moment between him and Edge, Lust didn’t need to know about it. Even if it wasn’t a big deal to Lust, it was to Blueberry. It had been their first time after all and that made it special.

“That’s too bad.” Lust gave a disappointed sigh as he flopped on the other end of the couch.

“You know, you’re dressed kind of like another version of Sans we met not too long ago,” Pink Papyrus said, as he settled in the middle of the couch. “Only you’re wearing shades of blue instead of red and black.”

“Oh yeah, he totally is huh,” Lust said. “I didn’t notice before because the scarf was missing.”

“Oh, were he and his brother looking for the Surface?” Blueberry asked, thinking he might know who they were talking about.

“Yep,” Lust said. “He and his bro just sorta appeared in the middle of our living room a couple weeks ago. He was very prim and proper when explaining to us that he and his bro were going to find the Surface. Ya should’ve seen the look on his face when I asked him if he wanted to fuck. It was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long while. And then he got all mad and flustered when I told him he was cute.”

“He was kind of jerk,” Pink Papyrus said. “His brother was hot though.”

“Yeah,” Lust said. “And I’m still jealous that you got fuck him when I’ve never gotten a single version of myself to agree to have sex with me yet. That’s not fair.”

“I’m sure that one day a version of you will show up here who’ll agree to have sex with you,” Pink Papyrus assured him. “It’s only a matter of time.”

“Or, I could figure out how to do it myself and travel the multiverse and find every version of myself willing to fuck. And if I find enough we could all meet up and have giant orgy or something.”

The two of them went on like that for a while. Talking about sex with alternate versions of themselves and other people. It made Blueberry increasingly uncomfortable. But he couldn’t come up with a reason to get up and leave without seeming rude. And he was pretty sure if he tried to interrupt and redirect the conversation to something else that it would just come back around to sex eventually. So, he did his best not to think about it too much and paid as little attention as possible.

Their conversation came to a close at long last when Pink Papyrus realized it was past supper time. Blueberry thought for a few seconds before deciding he wanted to help. He liked cooking and would’ve felt like a freeloader if he didn’t offer to lend a hand in cooking since that was something he was good at. It was also an opportunity to learn a new recipe and there was no way he was going to pass that up.

What to do about Edge though? He was still fast asleep and Blueberry didn’t want to wake him if he didn’t have to. It was probably best to just let him nap on the couch until supper was ready.

Scooping Edge up in his arms, Blueberry stood up. He gently lay back down, jostling him as little as possible.

“Please don’t touch him,” Blueberry said, addressing Lust.

“Don’t worry I won’t,” Lust assured him. “I’d only fuck him while he was sleeping if I had his prior consent to do so. And he made it very clear earlier that he didn’t want me touching him even when he was all hot and bothered from the healing magic.”

Blueberry actually hadn’t been thinking along those lines. He’d meant he didn’t want Lust to try to wake him up or move him for any reason. But it wasn’t that surprising that he’d thought Blueberry meant something else, the only thing on his mind seemed to be sex.

“But,” Lust continued, “if _you_ ever catch _me_ sleeping, feel free to do whatever you want to me.” He smiled and winked, the implication obvious even to Blueberry.

“And when he wakes up please don’t flirt with him anymore either,” Blueberry said, pretending Lust hadn’t made that last comment.

“You’re no fun,” Lust complained. “How am I not supposed to flirt with people?”

“I’m sure you can find a way,” Blueberry said before following Pink Papyrus into the kitchen.

“So, what’s the story with you and Edge?” he asked as Blueberry washed his hands in the kitchen sink.

“He just sort of showed up at my house one evening.” As they cooked Blueberry went on to explain how they had met, become best friends and then fell in love. The only thing he didn’t mention was Edge’s plan to steal a human soul to break the Barrier. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them it was just he wasn’t sure how they would react if they knew. And he also didn’t want to talk about Edge’s arrest and everything that that had led to.

When they finished cooking, Blueberry went back out into the living room to see that Edge was still asleep and Lust had fallen asleep. That was one thing every world he’d been in so far seemed to have in common. One brother was lazy while the other had more energy. Was there perhaps a swapped version of this world too?

It was probably best to wake Lust first; Pink Papyrus was in the kitchen setting the table while Blueberry had been sent to get everyone to the table. Blueberry walked over and lightly shook Lust’s shoulder. Lust groaned as he opened his eyes a crack.

“Have you decided to take me up on my offer to fuck me while I’m sleeping?” he asked in a sleepy voice.

“No,” Blueberry said, rapidly withdrawing his hand and taking a step back. “It’s time for supper.”

“Oh well, it was worth a try.” Lust sighed as he rolled off the couch. Straightening, he stretched with a yawn before heading for the kitchen.

Blueberry turned to Edge. He was still asleep, looking completely at peace. Blueberry could probably look at that face for hours and never get tired of it. But alas, it was time for him to get up.

“Hey Edge, it’s time to wake up,” he said, shaking Edge’s arm a little.

Edge groaned as he tried to bury his face in the couch’s armrest. But another nudge from Blueberry had him opening his eyes as he titled his face up to look at Blueberry. “Hey Blue,” he said, his voice thick with sleep.

“Good afternoon sleepyhead.” Blueberry smiled at him. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. What time is it?”

“Supper time, so you have to get up now.”

“Ugh.” Edge groaned as he sat up. “I assume that means Lust is back.”

“Yeah, and his brother. And I know you don’t like Lust, but I asked him not flirt with you anymore.” Whether or not Lust would actually listen, Blueberry didn’t know. But he had asked, that’s all he could do. “So, please try to get along with them. It’ll make things much easier for us.”

“Yeah, I know. I was just in a bad mood earlier. I’ll play nice with them as long as they leave you alone.” That’s about all Blueberry could ask of him.

“Good, now come on, let’s go eat. Me and this world’s Papyrus made bowtie pasta.” Blueberry took Edge’s hand, helping him stand and led the way into the kitchen.

“Hello Edge, it’s nice to meet you,” Pink Papyrus greeted him with a smile, proffering his hand.

“Uh hello,” Edge replied, shaking his hand. He didn’t sound particularly friendly but he didn’t sound annoyed or hostile either. He was doing good so far. All he had to do was keep up it for however long they would have to stay here.

“You think your brother might be ready to wake up yet?” Pink Papyrus asked, addressing Blueberry. “It’d be great if he could join us for supper.”

“I don’t know. I’ll go check,” Blueberry said, turning towards the doorway.

“Nah, I’ll just ‘port us,” Edge said before taking Blueberry’s hand and teleporting them upstairs.


	63. Dinner

“You know we could’ve just walked,” Blueberry said soon as they landed.

“Yeah, but it’s quicker this way,” Edge said. There was no way he was going to leave Blueberry’s side for however long as they were going to be in this world. Both because he didn’t want to leave Blueberry alone with Lust and/or Pink Papyrus and because he himself didn’t want to be alone with either or both of them. That being the case and the fact that he was too lazy to walk, he’d taken a shortcut instead.

“Okay, I guess.” Blueberry sighed as he turned to Paps who still fast asleep on Lust’s bed. He’d been sleeping for almost half a day now so he might wake up if Blueberry tried hard enough. But if he did it probably wouldn’t be for long, if Edge’s experience with this type of thing was anything to go by.

Blueberry gave his shoulder a light shake. “Wake up Paps, it’s time for supper,” he said.

Paps groaned in response. He pulled the blanket over his head as he rolled over to face the wall and away from Blueberry.

“Come on wake up,” Blueberry said, giving his shoulder another nudge.

“Five more minutes.” Paps’ mumbling was barely intelligible.

“You can go back to sleep after supper,” Blueberry assured him. “But since you’ve already kind of woken up you might as well get up and come downstairs and eat with us.”

Paps groaned loudly in complaint but he rolled back around to face them and opened his eyes. “Where are we?” he asked as he sat up, his voice still thick with sleep.

“Another universe,” Blueberry explained with a smile. “It turns out you can teleport to other universes too.”

“Yeah, but how?”

“You were running away this time.” Edge went on to explain his theory about how it was tied to running away as opposed to going to somewhere.

“Oh uh, sorry, if I’d figured out how to do it earlier than ya wouldn’t have been arrested and stuff…” he trailed off with a pained expression.

“Nah, it doesn’t matter,” Edge assured him. The last thing he needed was for Paps for feel guilty about any of that. It could’ve been prevented but so could a lot of things.

“Well, at least it looks like your arm’s been fixed up. That’s good. But uh Sans, are you okay with what happened before I uh teleported us here?”

“You’re talking about what happened with Dogamy.” Blueberry said, his face falling. “Yeah, I’m okay. I don’t like that I did it, especially like that, but… he was trying to… kill Edge. So, it’s not like I had much of a choice.”

“That’s… yeah, sorry ya had to do that,” Paps said.

“It’s okay, really,” Blueberry said. “I wish he hadn’t had to die but there’s nothing I can do to change it. So, let’s just all move on and not talk about it anymore.”

“All right, I guess let’s go eat and then I can go back to sleep afterward,” Paps said.

“Oh, just as a heads up, everyone in this world is a perverted freak,” Edge warned.

“They’re not freaks,” Blueberry said. “They just think about… sex and stuff different than us, that’s all. There’s nothing wrong with that. Even if it does making talking to them a bit… uncomfortable sometimes.”

“They think about sex differently _because_ they’re perverted freaks.” There was no way Edge was ever going to concede that there was anything normal about this world. Everyone here was a freak as far as he could tell. Even if Blueberry was too nice to use that word he still had to know it was true.

Blueberry sighed, patting Edge on the arm. “They’re nice though. They’re letting us stay here as long as we need to. And Lust’s even letting us sleep in his room.”

“So, what you guys are saying is, I landed us in a world obsessed with sex or something?” Paps asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Blueberry said. “But at least it’s a friendly world. No one here wants to hurt us.”

“No, they just want to fuck us,” Edge said. Which though technically better than the violence of his world was still not a good thing. But at least they weren’t being forceful about it, just annoyingly persistent, especially Lust.

“Oh, my gosh.” Paps sighed. “That’s… wow. I guess it could be worse though. Let’s just go eat, I’m too tired to think about this right now.”

Edge could relate to that feeling, he’d felt that way himself far too many times in his lifetime. Grabbing hold of both of them, he teleported them back downstairs to the kitchen where Lust and Pink were waiting for them.

“Oh, good to see that you’re finally awake,” Pink said with a large flirtatious smile aimed directly at Paps. “It’s always fun meeting other versions of myself, and seeing how different we are.”

“Yeah, uh hi,” Paps said, shuffling nervously under Pink’s intense gaze. “I guess that means that you’ve meet other versions of us before. I uh haven’t, so this is a bit… weird. But you and your bro certainly have an… interesting sense of fashion.”

“We’re sexy, right?” Lust said with a grin.

“Uh, let’s just eat so I can go back to sleep.”

After proper introductions had been made, they all sat down at the table to eat. Blueberry and Edge sat on one side, opposite Paps and Pink. Pink had _insisted_ that Paps sit next to him and Paps had clearly been too tired to argue. Lust sat at the head of the table.

“So, Edge,” Lust said shortly after they’d all settled down. “When you and Blueberry fucked earlier, who topped? I’m betting it was him.”

“Oh, my gosh Lust, no, we are _not_ talking about that,” Blueberry said, before Edge could even begin process his anger and surprise at being asked such a question. “That kind of stuff is personal and none of your business.”

“What’s he talking about?” Paps asked with an expression that said he probably didn’t really want to know.

“You see in this world healing magic is huge turn on,” Pink explained. “So, when they went to get Edge’s arm healed earlier it left him feeling aroused. And when they got back here, my bro left them alone so that could have some privacy while they had sex on the couch.”

“I'd really rather not have found out about that,” Paps groaned, awkwardly looking down at his plate.

Edge glanced over to see that Blueberry was blushing just as much as he was, if not more. This was _not_ a conversation they should be having, _ever_. That had been a _private_ moment. The fact that Lust had even brought it up made Edge want to claw his face off. And if he weren’t dying from embarrassment he’d have done just that.

“Yeah, they refused my offer to have a threesome and there’s no way they would’ve let me watch,” Lust said. “I’m pretty sure they were both virgins before from the way they were acting. And I wanna know which one was top. I’m pretty sure it was Blueberry but I can’t know for sure unless they tell me. So how ‘bout it Edge, you wanna tell us what happened?”

“ _No_ ,” Edge growled at him, deep and menacing, trying to be as intimidating as possible. “That has _nothing_ to do with you so shut the _fuck_ up about it.”

Lust sighed, completely unfazed by Edge’s anger and growling. He really was a fearless idiot. “All right fine,” he conceded. “I was just curious that’s all. No need to get all angry about it. I don’t really see why talking about sex is such a big deal to you guys, but whatever I guess.”

“All right good,” Blueberry said with a forced smile. “Let’s never talk about that again and talk something else instead. Like cooking. Yeah, let’s talk about cooking.”

After that Blueberry dominated the conversation, never letting it stray back towards anything related to sex despite Lust’s best efforts. The whole time Pink kept shooting Paps flirtatious looks with the occasional light nudge with his elbow. Paps clearly had no idea how to react and mostly ignored him, staying silent the whole time. Lust kept shooting both Edge and Blueberry similar looks, that they too ignored.

The only reason Edge didn’t growl at Lust to get him to back off was because Blueberry would disapprove. So, he did his best to ignore Lust as much as possible. Instead, focusing on finishing supper quickly so that they could all move on from this.


	64. No

“Did you two really…?” Paps asked them after they’d finished eating and put away the dishes. He’d pulled Blueberry and Edge aside as Lust and Pink had started heading for the living room.

“Yes,” Blueberry said. “He is my boyfriend after all, we were going to start doing that kind of stuff eventually anyway. But it’s between me and him, it’s no one else’s business.”

“Oh, uh yeah… sorry,” Paps said, looking ashamed. “I was just… curious.”

“It’s fine,” Blueberry assured him before taking Edge’s hand and leading the way back out into the living room.

“Hey,” Pink said as they entered the room. He sauntered over to stand right in front of Paps. “So, I was thinking, you want to sleep in my room tonight? Let your brother and his boyfriend have their privacy in my Sans’ room.”

“I uh…” Paps said, taking a half-step backwards.

“We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. But if you do want to…” Pink placed a hand on Paps chest, twirling his finger around one of his hoodie’s strings. “I can show you a really good time.”

“Uh…” Paps’ face starting glowing a bright orange. He glanced towards Edge and Blueberry with a look that said he had no clue what to do here. He looked even more uncomfortable than he had at the dinner table earlier.

Now that Paps embarrassment didn’t relate to him in anyway, Edge couldn’t help but find it a little funny. It wasn’t every day that Paps, who was normally calm, cool, and collected, looked so out of sorts and uncomfortable.

Blueberry shrugged at him while Edge did his best to hide his grin. Which judging by the look on Paps’ face he was doing a rather poor job of. He pitied Paps, he really did, but that didn’t make it make it any less funny to see him look so flustered and unsure of himself.

Lust however had no qualms about laughing at Paps’ predicament. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand why you guys are so shy about sex. But it’s hilarious and kinda adorable,” he said, breaking the awkward silence.

“Yeah, I won’t lie it is kind of adorable,” Pink said. “But like I said, we don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. There’s more than enough space on my bed for two people to sleep separately and is a thousand times more comfortable than the couch. Also, you might want to consider giving those two lovebirds,” he gestured towards Edge and Blueberry, “some privacy tonight. Since I’m sure they’re going to want to have some more fun before they go to sleep. They did just lose their virginity after all.”

Edge’s mirth faded as he felt himself start to blush at _that_ being brought up once more. That wasn’t anyone else’s business and everyone needed to stop talking about it before he lost his mind.

Part of Edge was hoping Paps would take Pink’s offer to sleep in his room tonight. Even if he and Blueberry didn’t _do_ anything he still preferred having it be just the two of them. Cuddling with Blueberry at night was something he enjoyed, and having Paps in the room would make doing that a bit awkward. A quick glance at Blueberry confirmed that he seemed to be having similar thoughts, only slightly more conflicted.

Apparently, Paps read this on their faces too. “All right fine,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll sleep in your room tonight. But I’m not gonna… I don’t wanna… ya know.”

“That’s fine,” Pink assured him with a smile.

“I’m gonna go back to sleep then. I’m too tired for this shit. You two gonna be okay on your own?” Paps turned to look at Blueberry and Edge.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Blueberry said. “You go ahead and go back to sleep.” With that said, Paps disappeared with a small pop as he presumably teleported upstairs to Pink’s room.

“Ya gonna try to change his mind bro?” Lust asked.

“Perhaps,” Pink said with and grin that said he was most definitely going to try to change Paps mind.

“Don’t pester him about it,” Blueberry said sternly. “That’s rude and you shouldn’t do it.” He shot Lust a pointed look, clearly aiming that comment at him as well. Lust just smiled and winked in reply.

“Anyway, I’m feeling awfully tired, I think I’ll head to bed early tonight. You three have fun,” Pink said with a fake yawn before heading for the stairs. If Edge had to guess he’d say Pink was probably going to go try to change Paps mind about sleeping with him.

“So, how are we going to spend the rest of today?” Blueberry asked once he was gone.

“I can think of a few things we could do,” Lust said with grin.

“No,” Edge said before Lust could even try to say what he was obviously going to suggest.

“Ya didn’t even know what I was gonna say,” Lust complained.

“I have a pretty good idea and the answer is ‘no’ and will always be ‘no’. So, don’t ask again.” Despite his words, he managed to keep his tone mostly neutral.

“I was gonna say we could play cards or a board game or something,” Lust said with the air of someone who was obviously lying. Even Blueberry had to have picked up on it, it that obvious.

“Yeah, cards sound like fun,” Blueberry said with his usual cheery attitude. If he was upset with what Lust _really_ had been about to suggest, he didn’t show it.

“All right, cards it is then,” Lust said.

Edge didn’t want to play cards with Lust of all people. But it’s not like they had anything better to do. Based off what he knew about this world everything on T.V. would probably be porn and he didn’t want watch that. So, cards it would be.

“Maybe we could even play strip poker,” Lust continued with a grin. He strolled over to stand on Blueberry’s right and trailed one hand down his arm. “It’ll be fun.”

Before Blueberry could respond, Edge growled at Lust, putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing him away from Blueberry. “No,” he said, placing himself between Lust and Blueberry.

“Ya know, you’re really hot when ya get all protective like that,” Lust said, still grinning as he put his hand in his pockets.

“Shut the fuck up,” Edge growled at him. “And _never_ touch him again, or else.”

“Or else what? You’ll _fuck_ me up, I think I’d like that,” Lust said not even missing a beat.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Blueberry said. He pulled gently on Edge’s arm to get him to back down. “Let’s not fight, okay?”

“He fucking started it,” Edge huffed, crossing his arms as he glared daggers at Lust. Who didn’t look even the slightest bit intimidated, it was annoying.

“No need to get all mad Edge,” Lust said, making a placating gesture with his hands. “If it makes ya feel better I apologize for touching your boyfriend.”

“How the fuck can ya be so fucking casual about this? Do ya have _any_ idea how easy it would be for me to fucking _dust_ you?” Edge brandished his claws for emphasis, hoping to get his point across. It would probably take little effort on his part to end Lust’s life.

“Oh, I have no doubt ya could easily kill me.” Lust _still_ seemed totally unafraid. “But I know ya won’t unless I try to hurt you are your boyfriend.”

“And how the fuck could ya know that?” Edge said, ignoring Blueberry’s warning hand on his shoulder.

“I’m pretty good at reading people. You may be big angry grouch sometimes but I can tell that you’re a good person. If ya weren’t Blueberry there wouldn’t love ya as much as he does and ya wouldn’t love him as much as you do. Even with being around ya for less than a day I can already say that you’re one of the most adorable couples I’ve ever seen.”

Edge found himself blushing for the umpteenth time that day.

“Um thanks I guess,” Blueberry said, also blushing a little. “Now can we stop fighting please and make an effort to be friends instead? Since we know no one here actually means any real harm.”

“Sure, I’m down to be pals. How ‘bout it Edge, wanna be friends?” Lust grinned as he held out a hand for Edge to shake.

Edge shot Blueberry a wary look. He didn’t want to be Lust’s friend, Lust was a perverted freak. But Blueberry gave him an encouraging nod. Of course he would, he always wanted everyone to get along.

“Fine,” Edge conceded, shaking Lust’s hand. “But only if you stop being a creep.”

“Okay,” Lust agreed with a grin. Doubtless his definition of being a creep was different from Edge’s. He’d probably still try to flirt with them every opportunity he got. “Let’s play some cards then.”

He led the way back into the kitchen. He pulled out a deck of cards from one the drawers and sat on one side of the table. Then with a grin, he gestured for Blueberry and Edge to sit across from him.

Edge started cheating right off the bat, hoping to anger or at least annoy Lust. But Lust didn’t seem to care one bit about how badly he was losing. It didn’t even seem like he was picking up on the fact that Edge was cheating despite how little effort he put into hiding it. Which just annoyed Edge, but he refused to show it in case that was what Lust wanted.

Blueberry thankfully dominated the conversation once more, cutting off Lust every time he tried to bring up the topic of sex. He didn’t seem to care that he was losing either. As always, he seemed to just be enjoying the conversation and the game, regardless of whether or not he was winning. And he had to know that Edge was cheating but wasn’t saying anything, meaning he was probably cool with it.

After a while, even though it was still a bit early they decided to go to bed. It had been a long and exhausting day after all. Edge teleported himself and Blueberry back upstairs to Lust’s room without even bothering to wish him a good night.

“I’m gonna ‘port us home tomorrow afternoon,” Edge said as soon they landed.

“That works,” Blueberry said. “As long as you’re sure you won’t hurt yourself doing it.”

Before Edge could reply there was a small pop as Lust teleported into the room. He had to hold back his groan of frustration at the sight of him. “No, we still don’t want to have sex with you and we _never_ will. So, fucking give up already,” he said before Lust could ask or imply anything of the sort.

“Ah, you didn’t even know if I was gonna ask about that,” Lust said. “And for reals this time I wasn’t gonna.”

“Yeah, and I’m the queen of the Underground,” Edge scoffed.

“Okay so maybe I was planning on bringing it up again,” Lust admitted. “You guys are newbies at this thing after all and I’m a professional. I could teach ya both so many things and make ya feel super good if ya just give me a chance.”

“Sorry but we’re just not interested in you like that,” Blueberry said before Edge could tell Lust to fuck off. “And we probably never will be.”

“All right okay, it was still worth another try though. But if ya _ever_ change your mind, the offer will _always_ be on the table,” Lust said with a wink. “But that wasn’t the only thing I came up here to ask ya about.”

“What is it?” Edge asked, dreading the answer.

“This.” Lust reached into his coat pocket and pulled a glass jar with an orange human soul floating in it. The soul they’d stolen from Edge’s world!

“How did you…?” Blueberry gasped putting his hands into his own pockets and pulling out nothing.

“Give that back,” Edge growled at him, making a grab for it.

“Whoa hey,” Lust said, pulling it out of Edge’s reach. “No need to get all excited, I’ll give it back in minute. I just wanna know why ya have it and where ya got it from.”

“Let’s not fight, please” Blueberry said. He put a hand on Edge’s shoulder, preventing him from making another grab for the soul in Lust’s hands. “First tell us how you found out about that and stole it without my noticing.”

“During dinner and throughout the day ya kept periodically putting your hand in your pocket, as if making sure something was still in there. And ya only did it when ya thought no one was looking. I was curious and decided to see what it was and maybe play a joke on ya if it was anything ridiculous enough. I managed to pickpocket it off ya pretty much right before Edge teleported ya out. So, you guys wanna tell me about it?”

“You’re a fucking thief,” Edge growled at him but didn’t make another move towards him. Blueberry didn’t want them fighting.

“I already told you that I’m not stealing it,” Lust corrected him. “I just wanna know about it, that’s all.”

“Well okay, I guess it doesn’t hurt to tell you,” Blueberry said before Edge could respond. He went on to explain where they’d gotten it from and what they planned to do with it.

“I suppose that makes sense and would probably work,” Lust said once Blueberry was done explaining it. “Here ya go.” He held out the soul to Blueberry.

“You’re just giving it back?” Edge asked as Blueberry accepted it. He’d expected Lust would want to keep it and use it to break the Barrier in his own world. Surely, they just needed one more soul too, like all the other world’s they’d visited so far.

“Of course,” Lust said as if that made total sense. “You guys clearly went through a lot to get it. I’m guessing it’s related to how you broke your arm and your general state of exhaustion earlier. So, taking it from ya would be a real dick move.”

“Oh, okay.” Blueberry pocketed the soul once more. “Thanks for not deciding to keep it. And yeah, we did go through a lot to get it, especially Edge,” he said, his face falling as he patted Edge on the arm.

“Well at least you’re safe now. But ya are gonna have to tell me the rest of that story someday,” Lust said. “But since we’re pals now, that means I can come visit your world occasionally once ya get the Barrier broken. And then I can see what it’s like to have sex with a human, I bet that’ll be fun.” Of course the first thing he’d want to do on the Surface would be have sex with a human.

“I’m sure it would be okay if you visited occasionally,” Blueberry said. Edge disagreed with him, Lust visiting would most certainly not be okay in his book.

“I’ll be sure to do that then,” Lust said. “And uh, I guess good night. Be sure to have fun together, even if it is without me. I’ll see ya the morning.” He winked at them, blowing them a kiss before disappearing with a small pop.

“Ya know, even if he isn’t a thief, I still really hate him,” Edge complained.

“I know,” Blueberry smiled at him. “Now let’s get ready for bed, shall we?”


	65. Goodbye Kiss

“Wake up Edge, it’s time for breakfast.”

Edge blinked open his to see Blueberry’s smiling face, as he shook his shoulder gently. “Hey Blue,” he said in a sleepy drawl.

Blueberry’s smile brightened at the greeting. “Good morning,” he said full of his usual enthusiasm. He leaned in to gently kiss Edge.

Edge smiled as they pulled apart. He used to hate waking up in the mornings. But waking up to Blueberry smiling at him and kissing him wasn’t so bad. In fact, it actually made waking up kind of pleasant.

“I’m guessing you probably made pancakes or something similar,” he said. With a yawn, he pushed himself first into a sitting position and then off the bed to stand next to Blueberry. He slipped his coat and shoes back on, having taken them off last night before going to bed.

“Yep,” Blueberry confirmed. “So, let’s go eat before they get cold.” He took Edge’s hand and led the way towards the door. Edge considered just teleporting them but decided not to.

After making their way downstairs they went into the kitchen, where Paps and Pink were already seated at the table. “Good morning,” Blueberry greeted them as he and Edge sat across from them after they’d grabbed their own breakfast.

“Good morning to you too.” Pink greeted them with a smile.

Paps gave them a sleepy handwave as his way of saying ‘good morning’. He still looked half asleep, but that’s how he looked every morning.

“When’s Lust going to come back?” Blueberry asked.

“He’s probably still asleep if I had to guess,” Pink said. “I’ll text him and see if he’s ready to come back yet.” He pulled out his phone and flipped it open. He then started to type on its keypad.

“Can’t he just stay wherever the fuck he is for the rest of the day until we leave?” Edge said. It was too early in the morning for Lust’s bullshit.

“Don’t be rude Edge,” Blueberry whispered to him, nudging his elbow slightly.

Edge didn’t reply. Yeah, maybe it was rude to say that in front of Lust’s brother, but he didn’t care. Pink had to know that Lust was an annoying gross perverted freak, no one in their right mind could deny that fact.

“I know my bro’s probably been bothering you,” Pink said as he put away his phone once more. He was seemingly not at all offended by Edge’s words. “But that’s only because he likes you guys and that’s just how he is.”

Lust liked them a bit _too_ much. That kind of behaviour was probably perfectly normal in a sex obsessed world like this. Which just made this entire world a world of perverted freaks.

But before Edge could say anything to that affect there was a small pop as Lust teleported in. “Yo, good morning guys,” he said with a yawn as he pocketed his own phone. Judging by how disheveled his clothing was it looked like he’d just gotten out of bed. “Hmm, good breakfast, I need that.” He grabbed a plate of pancakes before sitting at the head of table.

“So, bro, Orange Paps,” he continued as soon as he’d sat down. Apparently, even though he’d just woken up he was still intent on being annoying. “Did you two have fun last night?”

“No,” Paps said a bit too quickly as he was jerked out of his half-asleep state. It was almost as if he was lying.

Lust’s grin widened as he’d probably picked up on that too. “No need to lie about it,” he said. “C’mon now, tell the truth.”

“No,” Blueberry cut in, “we are not going to play this game again. If they did anything together that’s their business, not ours. So, we are _not_ going to talk about it.”

“Ah but…” Lust began before Blueberry interrupted him.

“That is _not_ an appropriate topic for the breakfast table. So, no more will be said about it, and that’s final.”

“You’re no fun,” Lust complained. But at least after that he shut up.

Judging by the embarrassed look on Paps’ face, he’d been lying about not sleeping Pink. Edge wasn’t sure how he felt about that. But Paps could do what he wanted, even sleep with a perverted version of himself if he so desired. Edge would rather not have found out about it though.

“Is it really that big a deal if they know that we had sex?” Pink asked with a smile, putting a hand on Paps’ shoulder.

“Yes,” Paps groaned in response, pointedly not looking at anyone in the room.

“Well, I did warn you that my brother was going to ask about it.”

“I’m so jealous now though,” Lust said. “You got to sleep with two versions of yourself when I haven’t even gotten one. That’s not fair. What do you have that I don’t?”

“I don’t know Sans,” Pink said. “Maybe I’m just sexier than you.”

“Oh, my gosh you guys, stop it,” Blueberry said. “Stop talking about that stuff while the rest of us are trying to eat breakfast. And Paps, I’m sorry that this topic was even brought up because it shouldn’t have been. It’s none of our business you can do what you want, we’re not going to judge you.” He was blushing a little as he said that, looking awkward and uncomfortable.

Edge wasn’t going to say anything on the topic. He preferred to pretend that the conversation wasn’t even happening. He was mostly just focusing on finishing breakfast as fast as he could so that he could leave the table.

“It doesn’t matter.” Paps sighed. “Let’s just not talk about it anymore.”

“All right,” Blueberry said.

For the rest of the duration of breakfast Blueberry managed to keep the conversation off sex. Much to Edge’s, and probably Paps, relief. And despite Lust’s best efforts.

Afterward they went back out to the living room. There wasn’t enough room on the couch for all four of them but Lust made room by sitting on the armrest closest to where Blueberry and Edge sat. Much to Edge’s discomfort as he was the one who’d ended up sitting closest to him.

“Can’t ya sit on the other side of the couch?” he asked, making no effort to keep the annoyance from his voice.

“Nah, I wanna sit next you,” Lust replied. “I won’t bite, promise. Not unless ya want me to.”

Edge groaned but didn’t say anything else. What would be the point? Lust was going to be a perverted creep no matter what.

“It’ll be okay.” Blueberry patted him on the shoulder. “You want to trade spots?”

“No.” As much as Edge didn’t want to sit directly next to Lust he disliked the thought of Blueberry being that close to him even more. It was probably stupid and a little over protective of him, but he hated it when Lust flirted with Blueberry. Especially when he was making some kind of sexual advance.

“So, when are you guys planning on heading home?” Pink asked.

“After supper,” Edge said. He wished he could do it sooner but he had to make sure he’d recovered enough not to make it dangerous. Besides it made more sense to do it later in the day. That way he wouldn’t sleep half the day away.

“That works,” Blueberry said. “But what are we going to do in the meantime?”

“Nothing,” Edge said before Lust or Pink could suggest anything perverted. “Don’t you two have work or something to go to?” That would get them out of the house.

“Nah, it’s the weekend,” Lust said. “We don’t work on the weekends.”

“Awesome,” Edge groaned under his breath. That meant they’d have to deal with Lust and Pink for the rest of the time they were here.

“What about T.V.?” Paps asked. “Is there anything not uh… pornographic that we can watch?”

“There might be,” Pink said. He pulled out the remote and the T.V. flickered to life a few seconds later.

As it turned out this world’s Mettaton was possibly the only sane person native to this world. His show had next to nothing to do with sex, much to Edge’s relief.

Doing his best to ignore Lust sitting right beside him, Edge leaned against Blueberry. Who put an arm around him, allowing him to cuddle closer. After a little while he even managed to doze off.

For the rest of the day, he napped on and off whenever he could. Both to ensure he was well rested for the teleport back home and because if he was asleep that meant he didn’t have to deal with Lust and/or Pink’s occasional perverted comment or suggestion.

But finally, at long last they ate supper, thankfully not as awkward as it had been last night, and it was _finally_ time for them to go home.

“Before you guys go,” Lust said as they all stood out in the living room together. “One last time, are you absolutely _sure_ you don’t wanna have a threesome? There’s still time.”

“Sorry but that’s still a no,” Blueberry said.

“Okay, all right. What about when I come to visit your world?”

“For the last fucking time, no,” Edge said, resisting the urge to growl. Hopefully Lust would never figure out how to travel to other universes, though that was probably unlikely. Maybe at the very least he’d never find them.

“What about you?” Pink asked addressing Paps. “You down to have some more fun once my brother figures out this universe hopping thing?”

“I uh… maybe,” Paps said with a blush.

“Let’s just go,” Edge said grabbing hold of both of them.

“Wait,” Lust said before he could even start to gather his magic. “One last thing before you leave.”

“What is it?” Edge considered just leaving anyway, but didn’t. If he were lucky this would the last time he’d ever have to interact with Lust. So, might as well see what he wanted since he’d already been denied on the sex thing for the millionth time.

Lust strode closer to him, wearing a mischievous grin. “It won’t take more than half a second and then you can go,” he said.

Once Lust stood directly in front of him Edge tried to take a step backwards. But he was already standing against the back of the couch and couldn’t get much distance.

Lust leaned in, as if he were about to whisper something to Edge. But instead he pressed his mouth against Edge’s cheek in a chaste kiss.

Edge froze, his body stiffening in anger and revulsion.

Giggling, Lust danced back just in time to avoid Edge’s claws as his paralysis broke a second later.

“You fucking piece of shit,” Edge growled. He tried to lunge at Lust, but Blueberry wrapped his arms around him from behind, pulling him back.

“What? I was just kissing ya ‘good bye’. Nothing wrong with that,” Lust said with a laugh.

“Calm down Edge,” Blueberry said, still holding onto him so that he couldn’t get at Lust.

“Ya know what, fuck this world, and fuck you, you fucking freak.” Edge flipped Lust off before taking hold of Paps once more and gathering his magic to teleport them back home.

As always, as soon as they landed his anger was replaced with utter exhaustion. He still _hated_ Lust but was now too tired to be angry at him. But it was _so_ good to finally be away from him and his disgusting world.

“You okay?” Blueberry asked, stepping back from him.

Edge nodded. “I fucking hate that fucking asshole,” he said, swaying on his feet a little.

“I’m not gonna lie, that was kinda funny,” Paps said. Glancing at him, Edge saw that he did indeed look amused. That might have annoyed Edge if he could think of anything other than going to sleep.

“Whatever,” he said. “I’m gonna go take a nap now. You guys take the soul to the Queen or whatever.”

Fighting the urge to just fall asleep standing up, Edge started slowly walking towards the stairs. He dreaded the thought of having to ascend them but he wanted to curl up on the bed he and Blueberry shared.

“Wait,” Blueberry said, taking hold of his hand. “Paps do you think you could teleport us up to our room? So that Edge doesn’t have to walk all that way.”

“Of course,” Paps said before putting a hand on Edge’s shoulder and doing just that. He teleported them so that they were standing right next to the bed.

“Thanks,” Edge mumbled. Not even bothering to take off his shoes or anything he crawled up on the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

***

Blueberry smiled at the sight of Edge falling asleep on top of the covers. He gently removed Edge’s coat and sneakers and placed them to the side of the bed. He then lifted Edge so that he could place him properly underneath the blanket. He tucked him in before kissing him lightly on the forehead.

“Wanna take the soul to the Queen now?” Paps asked.

“No, I think we should wait until Edge wakes up before taking it to her.” Blueberry pulled out the soul and placed it on the bedside table where it would be safe. “I want him to be there when the Barrier breaks and we get to see the Surface for the first time. It was his idea after all and wouldn’t have been possible without him.” Also, after all Edge had been through to get that soul back here he deserved to part of it.

“All right then, I guess we’ll see the Surface tomorrow then.”


	66. The Barrier

Edge blinked his eyes open to the familiar blue walls with painted on fake clouds. His mind running slow as it always did when he woke up from long sleeps like this, it took him a couple seconds to remember what had happened last. They were _finally_ out of that godforsaken sex obsessed world and would hopefully never ever go back to it or any world like it.

“Ah, good you’re awake.”

Turning his head towards the door he saw Blueberry walk in with a smile on his face. “Hey Blue,” he said as he forced himself into a sitting position.

“Good morning.” Blueberry ran over and hugged him. He seemed to be more excited than usual.

“Did it work? Did the soul break the Barrier?” Edge asked when their hug ended. He needed for it to have worked. After everything they went through to get that soul back here if it didn’t work he was going to be _very_ upset.

“We haven’t tried it yet,” Blueberry said.

“Why not?” Why wouldn’t they have tried it as soon as they’d gotten back home last night?

“Because I want you to be there when we break the Barrier. This was your idea and it wouldn’t have been possible without you. Also, I want to see the Surface for the first time with you.”

“Oh, okay.” Edge couldn’t help but feel flattered by that. He hadn’t thought something like that would’ve been important to Blueberry. “I guess let’s go then,” he said, reaching for his coat.

“We have to eat breakfast first though,” Blueberry said. “That’s why I was coming up here to check on you. I just finished making breakfast. But I am very excited so we should eat super quick so we can go see the Surface.”

With a shrug, Edge finished getting ready for the day. He then followed Blueberry downstairs and to the kitchen where Paps was already eating. They exchanged quick greetings as they joined him at the table. Breakfast, as Blueberry had requested, was a rather quick affair. Everyone was more than ready to see if they were going to break the Barrier today.

Afterwards they went back upstairs to grab the soul. Paps then teleported the three of them to just outside the throne room. They were let in as soon as the door guard announced who they were.

“If you have returned that must mean you have the human soul?” Queen Toriel said as they approached where she stood, holding a watering cans as she’d evidently been tending to her flower garden before they’d arrived.

“Yep,” Blueberry said with a large smile. He triumphantly held up the glass jar with the soul in it.

“Good.” Toriel nodded. “Then I suppose it is time to see if this’ll work. Follow me.” She gestured for them to follow her to the rear of the throne room. Where there was an opening that led to another white hallway.

As they walked down it, Blueberry took Edge’s hand. He was bouncing along, super excited about the whole thing as was to be expected of him. Edge on the other hand, felt a mix of excitement and nervousness, mostly nervousness though. They were either about to see the Surface for the first time or they were about to find out that everything they had gone through getting that soul here would’ve been for nothing.

It was probably dumb to be pessimistic. Why shouldn’t it work? A soul was a soul, right? It shouldn’t matter that it was from an alternate universe. But he couldn’t help but worry that it would matter and that it wouldn’t work. If that did end up being the case he had no idea what he’d do, if he’d try to find another way or just give up on the idea.

After a while Toriel led them through another opening and pulled them to a stop. They were in entrance way of what appeared to be a huge corridor that at first seemed to be entirely black but pulsated white light down its length every few seconds.

“This is the Barrier,” she said.

Edge had never seen the Barrier before. He’d thought it would be more like a gigantic magic wall. Taking a few steps forward, past Toriel, he bumped into something solid. He pressed his hand against it and pushed, whatever it was didn’t budge. It didn’t look like anything was there but it sure felt like it.

“Wow, this is cool,” Blueberry said as he pressed his own hand against it. Paps was doing the same on Edge’s other side.

“Now to see if a human soul taken from another universe will break it,” Toriel said.

Turning back towards her, Edge saw that seven glass tubes had risen from the ground. One of them was empty. While the other six had the other human souls floating inside them.

Blueberry took Edge’s hand and skipped over to the empty tube. “You want to put in Edge?” he asked. With an excited smile, he offered the soul to Edge.

“I uh… sure, I guess. If ya want me to.” Edge had thought Blueberry would’ve wanted to do it, with how excited he was about this whole thing.

“Of course I do, this is only possible because of you after all.”

His nervousness growing, Edge accepted the soul from Blueberry’s hands. “How does this work?” he asked.

Toriel strode over to stand beside him, Paps a few steps behind her. Edge followed her instructions as she explained how to transfer the soul from the glass jar to the tube. He let out a sigh of relief as soon as he’d successfully done it without messing it up and ruining everything somehow.

At first nothing happened. And it was beginning to look like it wouldn’t work and everything they’d gone through would be for nothing. But then there was a blinding flash of light accompanied by the sound of glass shattering.

Blinking his eyes open, Edge saw that glass tubes had shattered and the souls inside them had disappeared. The corridor in front of them looked much shorter now and no longer pulsed with light.

“It worked!” Blueberry said, full of excitement. He ran forward to where he invisible wall had been before and passed right through it. It had indeed worked.

Blueberry then ran back over and hugged Edge, hard enough to almost knock him over. “It worked Edge, we did it,” he said, bouncing up and down while still squeezing Edge tight.

“Yeah, we did. It really worked.” Edge couldn’t help but get a little caught up in Blueberry’s happiness and excitement. Not only did he love seeing Blueberry this happy but they were also finally free of the Underground. He’d accomplished his goal in getting Blueberry to the Surface.

“Come on, let’s go see it.” Grabbing Edge’s hand again, Blueberry set off at a run, practically dragging Edge behind him. While doing his best to keep up with Blueberry, Edge glanced back quickly to see Toriel and Paps following them at a slower pace.

It wasn’t long before they reached the end of the tunnel, skidding to a halt as they burst into sunlight. It was way brighter than anything Edge had ever imagined possible. The light seemed to almost burn his eyes as he flinched away from it. But after a few seconds his eyes began to adjust to it enough that he could open them again.

The source of the blinding illumination was a ball of light in the sky, the real sky not the ceiling of the Underground. That had to be the sun. It didn’t look much like any of the few pictures Edge had seen of it that had fallen from the Surface. Around it the sky was a pretty blue colour. There were a few white puffy clouds here and there but another than that it was clear.

“Wowie Edge, this is amazing.” Blueberry was still holding his hand, giving it a slight squeeze. He had a looked of awe and excitement on his face as he surveyed the scene in front of them.

They were standing on plateau overlooking a forested hillside. In the distance was a tall pointed mountain and what looked like some kind of city with _very_ tall buildings. Between them was a large body of water that Edge presumed had to be the ocean he’d heard mentioned a few times.

It was fascinating and beautiful. And everything was so open and spacious. They could see for what had to be miles up here. And not having a ceiling above his head for the first in his life was an odd feeling. He’d never even really noticed how oppressive the Underground’s ceiling had been.

“Wow, we really did it, huh?” Edge said. Part of him couldn’t believe that this was really happening. That it wasn’t all some dream that he was about to wake up from. They were actually on the Surface, they weren’t trapped Underground anymore. They were free.

If someone had told him before all this started, that he’d eventually make it to the Surface, he would’ve thought they were lying. If that same person had told him that he’d play a large part in breaking the Barrier, especially doing it for someone he loved, he would’ve thought they were crazy. But here he was with both of those things being true.

“We fucking did it,” he said again with a laugh. “We made it to the Surface.”

“Yeah we did it and it’s amazing.” Blueberry turned towards him with a large excited smile.

“Fuck Blue, this is… wow. I can’t believe we really did this.” This never would’ve happened if he hadn’t met Blueberry. He would’ve continued to be miserable and lonely for the rest of his life if he hadn’t accidentally ended up in Blueberry’s world. And if Blueberry hadn’t been so nice to him even when he wasn’t being all that nice back. “I love you,” he said in a whisper.

“I love you too,” Blueberry said before wrapping his arms around him and kissing him.

“Wow,” Paps’ amused voice interrupted them not even five seconds later. “Even when we make it to the Surface all you guys can look at is each other.”

“Yeah, well we’re very happy and excited to be on the Surface together,” Blueberry said. “We’re going to do and see all sorts of amazing stuff on the Surface together, right Edge? Like we’re going to have a date under the real stars and see real life humans for the first time.” He went on to list more things they’d do and see that he’d heard about probably from mostly inaccurate sources. Edge was more than happy to listen to him go on.

As he talked, they started walking along the plateau to get a better view of the surrounding land. Edge walked hand in hand with Blueberry of course. He was still marveling at the fact that they were finally on the Surface and free from the Underground. And Blueberry was right, they were no doubt going to see and do lots of cool stuff together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I finally finished it. There is of course going to be more, them doing stuff on Surface and interacting with humans. And maybe more universe hopping shenanigans as well. But this part of the story has finally been wrapped up, and I’m super excited about it. So, thank you to everyone who read it, and everyone to who gave it a kudos. And thank you for all your wonderful comments, they make me happier than you could ever know. I hope to see ya'll in the sequels and stuff. :)


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